Balta1701

QUOTE (chunk23 @ Jul 31, 2013 -> 03:19 PM) They pay him to play for another team so they can get good prospects so they can rebuild. Right now they're just dumping salary and will be fielding an even worse team next year. The assumption though is that some team is willing to offer "Good" prospects for Rios if the sox chip in money. There are signs that assumption is not true.

QUOTE (bbilek1 @ Jul 31, 2013 -> 03:18 PM) This off season will be a very interesting one. Actually, might not be all that interesting. The Sox are sitting there with a roster right now that they could field in 2014. They need a couple bullpen arms and a bench to do that, but if they wanted to, they could do very little.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 31, 2013 -> 03:16 PM) Maybe I'm naive, but today makes me believe the Sox truly do feel they can contend next year. They certainly could in theory...but they need some of the stuff that has gone wrong this year to go right next year again. Starting, first and foremost, with the awful defense and fundamentals. Get that back to 2012 type performance and we can talk.

QUOTE (Knackattack @ Jul 31, 2013 -> 03:13 PM) If the White Sox truly refuse to send any money then they are sending a giant middle finger to the fans. It's much more likely IMO that the Sox were willing to eat some money but Pittsburgh wasn't willing to part with a top-flight guy to make eating that money worthwhile.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Jul 31, 2013 -> 03:05 PM) If I'm Cruz' agent, I advise him that's a terrible idea. He's not getting much of a free agent contract if he has to sit out the first 50 games next year. That.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jul 31, 2013 -> 02:48 PM) Huntington has done a hell of a job with them in a few short years. And yet they've already squandered 2 chances at a playoff birth by not making deadline moves and then falling apart in the 2nd half. MLB tends to not be kind to teams that just assume they'll be even more competitive next year.

QUOTE (Butter Parque @ Jul 31, 2013 -> 02:39 PM) Don't believe Hahn for a second, yet, for some reason I'm still pessimistic that we make another move. We are, however, definitely closing in on the point where we can make fun of the Pirates for standing pat, since it has worked so well for them the last couple years.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Jul 31, 2013 -> 02:33 PM) Can't believe De Aza would not draw significant interest from some team. He probably did, but the price was probably very high. He's putting up numbers comparable to Rios for 1/6 of the salary.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jul 31, 2013 -> 02:32 PM) How is "can't someone else do it?" responsive to anything I said in that post? (btw when was the last time anyone posted a TDS clip here?) We get far more jokes about how hilarious it is that retired people should have access to health care.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 31, 2013 -> 02:30 PM) Sorry I didn't have a Stewart clip. Great informative, relevant answer.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 31, 2013 -> 02:10 PM) Here's idea #1, if you want to keep high paying jobs around, support them. Pretty much every single failed industry in the United States is a result of one of two things. #1 Technology making it obsolete. #2 People supporting cheaper versions of American industries leading to its failure. If you want American industry around, quit buying non-American stuff. This is a great concept, and it's one I try to do, but be honest...you're saying that the only way for America to have good jobs is if people make irrational economic decisions. Paying too much for a product out of patriotic desire cannot be the basis for a sound economy.

QUOTE (flavum @ Jul 31, 2013 -> 02:17 PM) It would be sad if Konerko's last game with the Sox is the 100th loss of the season. I hope he gets traded to a team that could win, or if he wanted to take an early exit and retire, I wouldn't have a problem with it. He deserves better than to be on team like this. It would be much more sad if Konerko was going to be traded and he wasn't playing before a home town crowd that day. He's one man who deserves a legitimate long standing O in his last game.

QUOTE (kwill @ Jul 31, 2013 -> 02:09 PM) Here is my problem with a deal. It reminds me when we traded Sergio Santos for Nestor Molina. People were split 50/50 on weather Molina could actually become a starter. I thought having the best asset at the trading deadline would bring us back a close to sure thing. Obviously, prospects are never a sure thing, but something we could say "Hey, if he is not a super star, he will at least be somebody we can plug in everyday". I read in Dan Schoenfield's assestment of the deal is scouts love him but saber metrics people hate him. Could we at least have one player in our system that saber metrics doesn't hate. We have all these guys with loads of talent who don't walk and strikeout a ton. That is the exact problem with out current roster. Nobody can every get on base. But, I would give the White Sox some benefit if they actually have shown they could draft in the past. The problem is that they had one of the worst farm systems in baseball for quite sometime. I have no faith in the Sox scouting ability. If they were at least decent at picking out potential prospects, I would be able to hang my hate on something. Finally, I just wonder what the Sox would have gotten if Good Ol' JR would have some for thought and ate some cash. I am not saying a ton. A few million dollars. Hell, Don't spend it this offseason. But, at least let this team be able to build. I will root for Garcia. Who knows, he could turn into Miguel Cabrera. Right now, from the outside looking in, it just seems we got another Viciedo. You know what's a huge difference between this and the Santos for Molina trade? We gave away the major leaguer in both deals, we got a prospect back with talent in both deals...but in this one, we did the right thing and got a number of additional talented pieces. A slick fielding short stop and a couple minor league pitchers, including one who can touch 100. We didn't do that in the Molina deal. Garcia absolutely has bust potential and probably strikes out too much. It'll be interesting to see whether he can adapt his power to the big leagues, he certainly has it in him to be a major contributor. He's incredibly young for the bigs at 22 and he's tearing up AAA at that age. But if he busts, we're sitting on the equivalent of 3 extra draft picks. Maybe one of those pitchers winds up closing for us in 3 years, maybe one of them winds up starting, maybe we have a slick fielding SS in a couple years who knows, but I'm glad we got the exdtra guys.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 31, 2013 -> 02:04 PM) The player the Sox should be trying to pay money for in order to get someone to take him is Keppinger. I'm frankly surprised he's not a Yankee, honestly.

QUOTE (TaylorStSox @ Jul 31, 2013 -> 02:04 PM) If they don't move Rios, they have to start taking away AB's from Konerko. Call Garcia up and shift Viciedo to DH. I don't have a problem letting Garcia tear up charlotte for another month. His minor league track record of dominance is pretty sh ort.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 31, 2013 -> 02:05 PM) Here's the thing. None of these things are free. They all come at a cost. When the cost becomes "can't someone else do it", then I have a problem. So if there are no jobs that pay enough for people to avoid to retire, and to afford healthcare in retirement, what happens to those people? They don't just vanish.

QUOTE (hi8is @ Jul 31, 2013 -> 02:00 PM) I will cry. Your tears provide sustenance for me.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jul 31, 2013 -> 11:29 AM) So how do we prevent that sort of accounting fraud? We pretend it isn't happening and then bail out the banks when its revealed. And this one isn't sarcastic at all. We look the other way and then the government covers the losses.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 31, 2013 -> 01:15 PM) You still aren't understanding what I am saying. It is people in general, not me specifically. The real problem is that anything that makes living life possible, particularly after retirement, you despise. Pension plans, you hate, they're too expensive. Making health care available, you hate, too expensive. Good paying jobs that allow people to actually save, you hate, too expensive.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jul 31, 2013 -> 01:42 PM) Yeah not saying "you" said any of this. I'm just talking about a general theme over the course of 10 years or so of paying attention. But even given the "this was a totally Dem-inflicted catastrophe" and say the residents of Detroit did a 180 and voted for Republican leadership what would that have changed? That would've done nothing about the crippling manufacturing jobs, mistakes by the both the UAW and the management of the Big Three, the white flight (or whatever the appropriate name for that phenomenon is - people abandoning the city), the population losses and declining tax revenues, or other auto plants opening without unions in southern states that never have snow days. To be fair, a major problem in Detroit has been political corruption as well. That's one you can blame on the political machine in that city.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Jul 31, 2013 -> 12:56 PM) Hate to say it but I told you all Boston wouldn't give up the spects. I mentioned 2 names they were willing to give up , Iglesias and Middlebrooks and they gave up Iglesias. Middlebrooks doesn't have that much value. I'm much happier with Garcia than Middlebrooks.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 31, 2013 -> 01:21 PM) Uh-oh. Garcia retweets when people say good things about him...

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 31, 2013 -> 10:45 AM) Dayan, Avisail, De Aza, Beckham, Gillaspie, Phegley - That's not a bad young core to start building around. Get one or two of Semien, Wilkins, Sanchez, Trayce Thompson, Brandon Jacobs and you're doing pretty good. Hopefully Dayan and Avisail really figure it out, because they both have some insane upside as 3-4-5 bats This org has talent in it that can contribute pretty soon, now it's all about turning that talent into actual big league contributors.

QUOTE (Lemon_44 @ Jul 31, 2013 -> 10:42 AM) Thanks. It just hit me. The guy I was thinking about was Infante. Yeah I blocked him out of memory.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 31, 2013 -> 10:41 AM) They have to be under $189 million. Counting the money coming back from the Cubs and Jeter's option they're just over $120 million right now. Figure $25 million for Cano and maybe $20 million for a new closer and starter, they still are only at $160. They have room if that's how they want to use it. But if they have to count the $13 million the Cubs are paying for Soriano, that makes it a lot closer.