Balta1701

QUOTE (Tex @ Feb 11, 2018 -> 10:09 AM) Heir apparent or he’s not interested in leaving the couch? Duncan is 72. He's 10 years older than Coop.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 9, 2018 -> 04:35 PM) I really doubt the Yankees thought Rutherford outranked the other 2. Then it's worth asking why our scouting picked the guy that we did if he doesn't have a breakout year, because that means the Yankees knew their guys well enough to give us the guy they liked the least.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 9, 2018 -> 04:35 PM) On a prospect list that wasn't current. Midseason, BA list, Rutherford was 36, Sheffield was 73, Andujar was out of top 100. Out of those 3, if you bought into that list, you'd pay a higher price for Rutherford. The MLB.com list was also updated at midseason.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Feb 9, 2018 -> 03:29 PM) The pitching faded, they were gassed from the previous season I agree. With that offense, they would have won 110 games if they got the same pitching as the year beforehand. They were still a playoff team if they had put their better CF in CF. I will go to my grave believing that. One of the reasons the pitching staff was gassed was that every single game they had to throw an extra 10 or 15 pressure pitches with runners on base for a ball or two hit to CF that wasn't caught and should have been. The stats don't agree with me, but this is a hill I'll die on. CF defense absolutely killed that team.

QUOTE (Jack Parkman @ Feb 9, 2018 -> 04:25 PM) That trade was more about clearing Frazier/Robertson off the books, Whether we'd like to believe it or not, I think that the return was affected by it being a combination of Robertson/Frazier/Kahnle rather than Kahnle alone. Truly believe that because of the money with the other two guys, they got less. I think we could have finagled Sheffield or Andujar without them having to take on Frazier and Robertson's money. For some reason clearing them from the books was more important to Hahn than the extra prospect. Worth pointing out - at the time that deal was made, Sheffield and Andujar were seriously outranked on most prospect lists by Rutherford. Based on those, Rutherford was more valuable and it wasn't close, at the time. The question remains whether we scouted rutherford correctly.

QUOTE (FT35 @ Feb 9, 2018 -> 03:59 PM) Agree with you...can't ROB every team on every deal. We maybe could have gotten a little more but in the end, the players who needed moved from our team got moved and not another team's--and Rutherford is in our system instead of another team's. Our team moved closer to our goal with the deal. If our scouts were right about Rutherford then at some point he's going to be a breakout player. If they were wrong, then someone screwed up badly because that was a pretty major mistake, to like the guy in the draft, pay a high trade price for him in a trade, and then not get a big league player out of it. They clearly like this guy, so if they're wrong, that should be one of those "how were we this badly wrong" moments where you change your scouts or change the evaluation tools that led you to that guy. For his prospect ranking at the time that was a fair price, but you would have to hope that they were doing slightly more diligence on these guys than saying "What is their ranking in the MLB.com prospects list right now and is that fair for what we're giving up?"

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Feb 8, 2018 -> 11:37 PM) Well, McDaniels just got released by his agent, so its not just the Colts who are miffed. Yeah, that tells me all I need to know about whether or not the Colts screwed something up on the process. Their only screwup was trying to hire that screwball.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Feb 8, 2018 -> 10:35 PM) Except the stamina Theyda been fine if they didn't insist on putting a decent 3b in center field every other day.

QUOTE (Dam8610 @ Feb 8, 2018 -> 06:41 PM) Yes, hopefully they send the Orioles Mejia to get him this year, then he signs with the Sox in the offseason. That would be the best and most hilarious scenario. If the Indians win the world series this year, they won't care how hilarious it is.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Feb 8, 2018 -> 02:27 PM) Maybe I have to remember my SSS account and ask larry but can anybody (SS2K? Balta?) answer why the Sox went to arb with Yolmer over 250k? That just does not seem like the Sox. Are they setting precedent for all the prospects coming through that will be arb eligible in 3-5 years? I have absolutely no idea and you're 100% right this is totally out of character for the White Sox. All the reasons given in the post before this are correct and it's why the Sox have said in the past that they don't like these hearings and prefer to settle. I'm as befuddled as you.

QUOTE (TheTruth05 @ Feb 8, 2018 -> 11:23 AM) This. I'm totally on the boat that McDaniels is a scumbag for leading the Colts and his assistants on but the Colts got ahead of themselves as well. What else can you do? The league rules say you can't hire the guy until his season is over, but you've gotten him to agree in every way but on paper. That's the way it's done every other time in the league. The Colts would have been equally foolish to say "We're hiring McDaniels but we're not going to hire a staff until that's official" when they would want to have a staff in place to start draft preparations for the last few weeks. This is how the business is conducted if it doesn't involve McDaniels.

QUOTE (Lip Man 1 @ Feb 8, 2018 -> 12:35 PM) Actually another year building "closer to being very competitive for the foreseeable future..." Which sure as hell beats the "mired in mediocrity" we've seen for the last decade. Yet again (for the 1,234,323 rd time with you) ownership is NOT changing, the front office is NOT changing this was the best that could be done under those circumstances. We may not actually win the 2020 world series, but the fact that I can be cocky and say that we are going to win it, and have it be totally believable - that's a helluva lot more fun than the "and if Matt Latos, Jimmy Rollins, Austin Jackson, and John Danks are all way better than anyone thinks they will be then we have a shot at being .500" we saw a few years ago.

I think I've finally come to a realization about the policy Greg really does care about. It permeates almost every post he makes back here, every thread he makes back here. It sums up why he doesn't care about any policy that you think he should care about. What he really cares about is that he's better. His way is the right way and you must respect that in all things. A while ago, I saw someone online who said that every time you see someone complaining about "PC", replace the phrase "PC" with "Treating people who aren't like you with respect" and you'll see their true motive. That's Greg's #1 issue, it is his overriding, driving force. People who are different from him do not deserve respect under any circumstances, but because he is a white, cis, hetero, male, he deserves it and he demands it. Start with this thread. Here's some of his words. "Remember if you have them, somebody may be offended." - an entire thread about how he's totally offended that someone else might take offense. His offense is righteous, the way things were done for him is correct and it should never be considered that other people might need to be treated as human also. "Anybody who has been to a Father-Daughter dance realizes this is special and there's nothing wrong with it." - and the people who don't belong in that single category, they don't deserve to participate. They should have known better than to be the wrong gender. Or to not have 2 parents. You can do this for hours. Take the people that Greg finds to like politically - Rush Limbaugh, Trump/Trump Jr, Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Glenn Beck, Jesse Ventura. You've got people who broke the law and were drug addicts, you've got people with credible allegations of sexual assault, you've got racists, you've got people who are just plain jerks. But what do they have in common? They are white males who have treated people who aren't like that with the total lack of respect they deserve. A thread comes up about a black woman who people are talking about running for office? "How well does she know policy!?" that same day, he assumes that Donald Trump understands policy while he's tweeting about something he saw on Fox News and in the process he undermines his own administration's policy, because he doesn't understand it. Hillary Clinton? That woman is corrupt and needs put in her place. Women shouldn't be trusted. Scared that Donald Trump might accidentally get Honolulu vaporized? Sure but at least he's not a woman. Hurricane response? Sure Puerto Rico isn't in good shape but the response to FLorida and Texas was fine so it deserves praise. The people who are going to schools without electricity don't really count. OMG the blacks are rioting? STOP THEM! OMG the Eagles fans are rioting? I saw nothing. Up and down the list that's his one, singular driving force. His life experiences are the right ones. It doesn't matter if a person is better educated, it doesn't matter the kind of case they'll make for why their life experiences should be treated as equal to his. His are superior, and to say that anyone else deserves that same respect is "PC" and should be shunned. He has to be superior at all times because of who he is. It's his birthright. So next time he does this, play this game. Replace the term "PC" with "Treating people who aren't like you with respect". You might have to edit the grammar a little bit to make the sentence fit, but it will work every time. This entire thread is about how he deserves the right to disrespect anyone who has a different family makeup than him or a different gender than him. His gender and family structure is the right one, it deserves respect, it is PC to treat any other human being with respect just because they're human, and that's the worst thing you can possibly do because his way being the right one is his birthright.

QUOTE (TheTruth05 @ Feb 8, 2018 -> 09:17 AM) McDaniels is a scumbag and I'm glad I don't make the calls in Halas Hall because I liked him for the Bears at the start of the search. Also can't help but think this is Ballard's/Colts fault as well. Looks like they had ZERO plan B for McDaniels and agreements are nothing without a signature on the dotted line. If Ballard really had been in contact with McDaniels as much as he should have,he would have noticed the waivering and tried to plan/execute a plan B but he put all his eggs in one basket. Also yes i think it will be Toub because of the Ballard ties. I think you're seriously underestimating McDaniels here.

I know where you can find a spare tesla! (calmly walks away)

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Feb 7, 2018 -> 08:23 PM) Is there anyone Hope Hicks WASN’T dating in the Trump campaign/administration? Somehow, she is going to end up the longest tenured staff member. Or this is just a sexist smear that people keep falling back on.

QUOTE (Quin @ Feb 7, 2018 -> 07:07 PM) Eh, Greg. You're waaaaay over inflating this. You might as well gripe about sock hops. He's still mad about the PC folks who forced sock hops to admit interracial couples.

They did a hearing? Whoa.

QUOTE (Jack Parkman @ Feb 7, 2018 -> 12:01 AM) 2 wins separating 1st from 8th in ping pong balls-4 teams with 17 wins, 3 with 18 wins(including the Bulls) and the Nets have 19 wins. However unlikely, how does the NBA lottery work with teams that tie in record? Link

Random former white sox farmhand note: apparently Micah Johnson is an artist.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Feb 6, 2018 -> 06:20 PM) Do you at least agree with my premise that it's going to be VERY HARD or at least much harder for players to put up Hall of Fame numbers in the future with a changing mindset regarding age? Next offseason, Bryce Harper and Clayton Kershaw will probalby sign contracts that cover something close to 18-20 years between them. Manny Machado will probably get something 10 years long. The next offseason Chris Sale will probably sign for something like 8 years if healthy, and he'll be 30 years old at the time.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Feb 6, 2018 -> 05:57 PM) I believe you couldn't be more wrong. Yes, people can point at the highs of where the market is but the fundamentals just don't support being overdue for a mass correction and for a real market correction you have to have a "driver" for such correction and if that driver is out there, I don't see it right now. Even the tax cuts, while I can debate the actual impact on them, is just another thing that will (at least temporarily) push out a recession (more so if it is combined with an infastructure proposal) . I might debate long-term implications and overall effectiveness of tax reform. FWIW, I think the net result of the tax package will be the exact opposite, bringing a recession sooner. There is still some room for growth in the economy before full employment is reached, but the government dumping another $500 billion into the economy this year will make things heat up much more quickly. Basically all of the recent recessions have been triggered in part by the federal reserve overtightening once things actually begin to heat up enough to cause wage growth, so the net result of dumping in funds now through the tax cuts is going to be the Fed slamming harder on the breaks, and that is our recession trigger. So it will lead to more rapid growth in the short term, but it will also accelerate the next slowdown.

That was a F***ing big rocket. Most powerful rocket humans have launched in 45 years. And this was pretty darn neat.

QUOTE (BrianAnderson @ Feb 6, 2018 -> 03:56 PM) I get this, but at the same time ... dry powder this year might be a hell of a lot cheaper. I feel like teams have saved their cash for next years' FA market. So maybe for a complete guessing game..... What do you think Moustakas gets on the market next year if he takes a pillow contract this year? Maybe next year he gets the 5 year deal at like $75mm (15mm average). If that's the case, I don't see the issue of taking a shot at 4yr/44mm this year when the Sox have been historically really bad at plugging 3B. My other issue is I really don't trust Yolmer -- and that's coming from a really pro-Yolmer guy since like 2015 (also coincidentally after his best year in the majors). Yolmer types are better suited as super utilities or as #9 guys on teams. You can have one MAYBE two yolmer type guys on your team as starters if you're really actually serious about playing for a championship. (This is where WAR arguments are always brought up -- I get he had a good WAR last year) I think it's totally fine to not trust Yolmer. I'm not sure I trust him as a starter this year or long term either. That's why it's so important to play the kids this year. We have to develop these guys as much as we can, and then go into next offseason with the most amount of money available to cover the fewest possible needs we have remaining. If I'm going to trust him to fill a need, I want him to earn my trust. Some of those needs, FWIW, will also likely be on the bench. Even if Yolmer isn't a starter, if he can handle himself as a 2 win player who has excellent defense and is a bat and pinch runner off the bench, that's an extremely valuable role. For example, the Astros this year got really really big innings, games, and seasons from Marwin Gonzalez and Jake Marisnick. When Correa got hurt, they didn't have to make a trade to cover that position for 6 weeks and losing an MVP caliber short stop didn't derail their season because they were getting solid bench contributions and that was enough to keep their lineup running. Even if all Yolmer can do is be a good backup, if we get cheap backups out of Leury, Yolmer, and someone like Cordell, that's a huge win! That's "we no longer have to sign Jeff Keppinger and Emilio Bonifacio" territory. That's what we need to do this season. Play the kids, don't get distracted by shiny new toys. Play the kids, get them ready to go, and then go into next offseason ready to do literally anything you want.

I continue to dislike the concept and will respond with "play the kids" under any and all circumstances. Put Sanchez at 3b this year and let's see what he's got. To do this right, we have to rebuild for 1 more year. That's all we have to do, keep the powder dry for 1 more year, play the kids, and don't get distracted from the main goal.