Balta1701

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 25, 2013 -> 12:22 PM) Most important section of the vra rules unconstitutional. f*** this dumb country. -Ginsberg

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 25, 2013 -> 02:03 PM) And yet Bryce Harper, the most hyped prospect in recent memory, didn't get pushed in this way, did he? No, he was pushed even harder. He was in AA after only 1/2 a season in A ball and in AAA after the next 1/2 season.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jun 25, 2013 -> 12:28 PM) Why is the media not reporting the other case Hernandez currently has going on in which he allegedly shot his friend in the face with a gun he was not supposed to have. "Shooting your friend in the face isn't illegal"

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jun 25, 2013 -> 10:32 AM) Good GMs get more than bad GMs regardless of the time of year players are dealt. The White Sox got absolutely nothing dealing guys like Durham, Lofton, Mackowiak, Iguchi, Thome, and Contreras over the years at the deadline, while the Indians ended up with guys like Ben Broussard (when he was good), Shin-Soo Choo, and Carlos Santana. LOL to complaining about not getting anything back in those deals. Durham, fine. The rest?

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jun 25, 2013 -> 09:58 AM) It still bothers me that Thompson has never been considered a top 100 prospect. While his numbers have never been eye-popping, as you said he's a level or two above players his age and has shown steady improvement each year. Plus he is a legitimate CF, which is a huge positive. I'm way more confident of him becoming a 2015 regular than any other position player in our system, including Phegley & Sanchez. This ought to tell you something about the top-100 prospect lists and what actually goes into them.

No one was paying attention, but it turns out that the real scandal out of the additional IRS Scrutiny for 501©4 groups is why the Inspector General released a report stating that only conservative groups were being singled out. And of course, the end result, as predicted, is that the IRS no longer has the ability to use any reasonable judgment in trying to guess whether or not a group has lied when requesting legal advice regarding 501©4 status, and the end result will be that all such groups are rubber-stamped.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jun 25, 2013 -> 09:26 AM) This was was about Flowers being terrible. I was 100% right. Would you like to make a similar prediction about Phegley?

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 24, 2013 -> 11:10 PM) I'm ready to give up on Mitchell at this point, but it's going to take at least until 2015 before being willing to throw in the towel on Hawkins. Really, you'll wait until a guy is 21 to throw in the towel on him? How patient of you.

If AJ was the guy who coached/drilled defensive fundamentals last year, then his absence could explain 10 games in the standings, I'd buy that.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 24, 2013 -> 10:25 PM) Please link one article saying the White Sox didn't work hard on fundamentals in spring training. Were you even there? Please link one saying they did. I can find a ton in 2012. The teams play speaks for itself. They ought to be doing the extra practice they did against the twins every other day. Their focus and basic fundamentals are pathetic. The worst I've seen from any sox team not loaded with rookies.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 24, 2013 -> 09:41 PM) And I'm saying if you think he booted the ball yesterday because of spring training, something you have no proof of your claim, I think that's crazy. It's the butterfly effect. Can't link a single error individually to it, but the trend line is obvious.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 24, 2013 -> 09:04 PM) And it's not simple enough to go with the explanation of "he's getting older/regressing," because his offense and speed/aggressiveness on the basepaths are comparable or even better than last season. Or do we all except the "Ramirez has always been susceptible to wearing down because of his thin frame and he just hasn't been rested at all" theory? If that one is the case...guess who makes the lineup card out.

QUOTE (sammy esposito @ Jun 24, 2013 -> 08:52 PM) he is giving it all this year might not be anything left for next year But he did the exact same thing last year.

QUOTE (DukeNukeEm @ Jun 24, 2013 -> 08:53 PM) Nice work NBC, cut to commercials when someone is literally unconcious on the ice. I believe that's what you're supposed to do.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 24, 2013 -> 06:59 PM) If you weren't at spring training, i really think you are speaking out of turn. Like blaming Ramirez's error on spring training. Even if he didn't go to sprimg training, close to 80 games later, he should have it down. How is it if you practice it in February, you will be perfect at it in September, but then you forget all about it? The fundamentals are emphisized every day. The only place where I have seen it said they worked less on fundamentals in spring training this year is on this board by people who weren't there either year.if it were true, i would think someone, somewhere would hve mentioned it t least once. One error, fine. Its been less than 1/2 of a season and Alexei Ramirez has more errors already this year than he did over the entire season last year.

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Jun 24, 2013 -> 05:41 PM) So why did a rookie manager part with something that worked? Did this pattern exist before? Even Manuel claimed they worked on things in ST that seems to reflect the opposite once the season starts. You can only change a leopard's spots so often. Last year we heard over and over and over again that it was the most fundamentals-oriented spring training any of them ever went through. This year we haven't heard a peep even resembling that. Whether it was the WBC schedule, the fact that the team tired out last year, whatever...they didn't do the fundamentals focus they did last year and the results speak for themselves. We've given up more unearned runs this year so far than we did all of last year. Not to mention the missed cutoff men, etc. The most blatant one is the rundowns. outside of Youk who wasn't there for ST, it seemed like every rundown last year was executed perfectly. That's just a skill to practice; run at the guy and then 1 throw. We nailed that just about every time last year. This year I don't think I've seen it done correctly once. No one practiced it. Not a soul. Maybe he didn't realize how well it worked/ how important it was to last year's success, maybe he stopped caring, maybe the players stopped caring, maybe he decided the team was too tired at the end of the year. Whatever the reason was, I'd have extended him several years last offseason for hwo good the team looked. I want him fired now for how bad this team looks.

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Jun 24, 2013 -> 05:01 PM) I've read articles from those outside of the Sox kingdom have said KW built teams have always been weak in defense and fundamentals until Ozzie got there. At some point managers get too much praise and blame for these things. Some of the MLB players have probably been playing baseball since age 6. How far does some amatuer coach or parent let a player's weakness slip by that even a minor league system can't fix. New coaches and managers often make improvements apparent but eventually those players slip back to their old ways. It's trying to fix a habit that existed for 10 plus years. Just like any bad habit the responsibility is more on the individual to fix. This is often evident in hard throwing pitchers who have a short career. Change may be short term failure and they go back to their old ways. You can say that all you want and I now have my answer, it's the 2011, 2012, and 2013 white sox. In the space of the last 3 seasons, we've seen by far the best prepared team I've ever witnessed and 2 of the worst prepared teams I've ever witnessed using basically the same players much of the time. That hangs on the coaching staff and preparation. Last season's sudden appearance of incredible preparation and then this season's sudden appearance of terrible preparation tell me that the manager makes a huge difference in how he's preparing a team for the year.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 24, 2013 -> 03:42 PM) Sox have lost games in all imaginable ways the last month of last season and all this season. There's been no difference between he and Ozzie. Good pitching under both managers; losing games every way possible last 3 years under Ozzie and during Ventura era. Last year was a big, big difference in focus and preparation. This year makes Ozzies teams look prepared and ready.

QUOTE (2nd_city_saint787 @ Jun 24, 2013 -> 03:21 PM) Is there any hope of Teague making a Butler like jump? Wasn't the plan when signing Kirk to play him a bit at SG? Could we see a Rose/Teague PG duo with a ?/Hinrich SG duo? I think that's exactly what is shaping up this year. Right now, that ? is Jimmy Butler as the roster currently stands. Having Rose back might well help Hinrich stay a bit healtheir.

QUOTE (bbilek1 @ Jun 24, 2013 -> 03:19 PM) He was 23 last year. It's very easy to have an ERA as low as his when RV has to pull him in the 6th/7th inning every time someone gets on base. Quintana has gone 7 innings or more twice all year. TWICE. Again, I am rooting for him and him pitching like he has as young as he is is encouraging. I don't want my argument to turn into making a case against Quintana because this conversation started with me preferring Hector/EJ over Quintana in the long run. Who do you prefer Balta? You know, I really don't know. I put them at about the same level right now based on what I've seen from them. Each of them currently has some flaws but both of them will improve on those if they're given the chance to grow up as major league starters. Santiago needs control, Quintana needs to develop offspeed stuff and reliability. Both of them need innings.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Jun 24, 2013 -> 03:13 PM) They do? Other than the rookie they'd likely draft with the pick that will be a downgrade, who are their other 2-guard/wing players? Hinrich? They'd still have the tax payer MLE as is, the only difference it would make is allowing them to pay about $5 million instead of 3. That's not exactly going to be the difference between Keith Bogans and Kobe Bryant. Moving Deng also doesn't "improve their financial flexibility" at all since he's an expiring contract. It's not a complete "white flag", but it clearly hurts their current team. Hinrich, Teague, Rose, #3/#1 pick is a moderately deep backcourt assuming whoever they draft can come in and at least start out of the gates. Yes, they would need to use the MLE (or mini-MLE) to sign someone to provide additional depth in there. The trick winds up being what they'd take back for Deng. If they have to take back Okafor...they have their backup C for the year, but they lose that financial flexibility. If they can move Deng's salary off completely, that clears money for this year (and also gets them under the tax line so they're not repeat-offending).

QUOTE (2nd_city_saint787 @ Jun 24, 2013 -> 03:03 PM) If they could amnesty Boozer, trade Deng, sign a SG then what about this Alex Len cat? Wouldn't Noah and Len give the Heat fits down low? They both seem athletic enough to play the 4 or the 5. Does trading Deng and using the amnesty on Boozer free up enough money to get a Mayo/Ellis/Evans/Derozan? Are any of those guys even a good pair with Rose? Edit- I guess doing all this before they see who is actually available via FA could be a bad move. The Bulls are sitting at $73 million right now. If you clear Boozer and Deng while taking no salary back, that drops them to $43 million. But, a high draft pick is somewhat pricey; third pick is guaranteed $3.5 million, 1st pick $5 million. The cap has hung at around $58 million the last couple years and probably stays close to that. If the Bulls could move both of them while taking no money back, they're close to $48 million and could sign an $8-$10 million player under the cap this year.

QUOTE (bbilek1 @ Jun 24, 2013 -> 02:55 PM) That's a bogus argument. The Braves were my favorite team other than the Sox growing up and I watched a lot of Tom Glavine when the Braves were still on TBS. Tom Glavine's circle change was so good he basically pushed the pitch into the mainstream of baseball. His change up was an out pitch. Give me one pitch that Quintana throws that even slightly rivals Glavine's change. You can't. Not to mention Glavine (and Maddux FWIW) got every call on the corners. Sure he's young and has good control but that doesn't make him a better option than Santiago or Johnson in my mind. I don't necessarily dislike Quintana, but he is lacking in important areas. If we had to move a starter other than Peavy, Quintana would be the first one on my wish list. I don't like to bag on our guys (besides Flowers) but I am being realistic here. How sustainable is his success? I think Quintana's success is very sustainable. The Quintana last year was fastball-dominant, absolutely. He got by on guile and nibbling and did so in an impressive way. He's building some much more impressive offspeed stuff this year. He's thrown both his curve and his changeup more times this year than he did all of last season according to PFX data, and it also thinks hes incorporating a 2-seamer (which I think is the case also based on press reports). As a result, his fastball has become much more effective this year as well, giving up fewer hits, runs, and generating more strikeouts. We called him up at what, 21 last year? It shouldn't be surprising that he's taking his time developing his offspeed repertoire, and he's really grown a lot with how he uses it this year. Right now I think he's still struggling some with conditioning, which might well be expected considering the innings jumps. You can see that in how he starts getting hit the 3rd time through the order with some regularity. Given time, he's improving on having out pitches and improving on conditioning. There is a really good starting pitcher growing up before our eyes.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jun 24, 2013 -> 02:49 PM) I'm fine dumping Gibson. He's basically Noel right now, right? Plus defender and average (at best) offensively. For every highlight dunk Gibson gets he bricks 10 wide open 12 foot jumpers. I seriously hope last year was just a bad year for him. And if the Bulls are trading Deng for a prospect they're already raising the white flag on competing until 2014 (or more likely 2015). So you can be patient with Noel. But I agree, they have bigger needs. If they can get the #3 pick and get some frontcourt depth, that's the better move. Trading Deng for a 2014 draft pick would not be "White Flagging it" for this year given what the roster looks like right now. Butler can slide into Deng's starting role, they still have players in the backcourt, and they would have the MLE to fill in the gaps without doing long-term damage to their financial flexibility. That said, Steve continues to be right; the front office just isn't that aggressive.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jun 24, 2013 -> 02:13 PM) I can't see the Chicago Bulls making a meaningful trade. Probably true.