Balta1701

QUOTE (steveno89 @ Dec 5, 2017 -> 03:48 PM) Best case scenario? Yes, 2018 we show progress and 2019 take that step forward. I'm still a bit skeptical as young players often need time to adjust to the mlb level. I see our bullpen being a big question mark in 2018 as we really do not have anything reliable in that regard right now. Sure we can supplement the pen with a free agent or two, but we still need to develop 3-5 quality arms ourselves for relief. Miller and Kimbrel are both FAs after 2018. We clearly have more work to do, but I keep circling those names even before I circle position players.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Dec 5, 2017 -> 11:49 AM) Just as it's better to trade a guy a year too early than a year too late, it's better to start a rebuild a year too early than a year too late. The Sox could have certainly gone for it last year and could have snuck into the playoffs with 84 wins or whatever it was, but then they face the Yankees and suddenly you don't have near the assets you did the year before, which greatly diminishes any returns you'd get. I don't see any way they end up with either Eloy or Moncada, let alone a guy like Kopech. This is part of the reason why so many people here have graded the rebuild so highly. The so-called easy part is done, and it's going to be quite a bit more difficult moving forward, but with the assets they've collected, they are positioned very well moving forward. They'd have needed 86 wins to beat the Twins, FWIW, although a couple of those wins could have come from us being a better team against the Twins. Then again...that's still a jump of what, 10 wins from our best effort in 2016 and 2015.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Dec 5, 2017 -> 10:08 AM) Oh I was thinking of Cheney's separate intel shop he set up to fabricate and disseminate "evidence" about Saddam's WMD programs. That was through the "Defense Intelligence Agency" I believe, not a private organization either.

QUOTE (Big Hurtin @ Dec 5, 2017 -> 08:55 AM) Trump is looking at plans for a global network of private spies https://mobile.twitter.com/vicenews/status/...015490399711232 Hmm, this reminds me of something... What?

John Oliver winds up on a movie anniversary panel for the film "Wag the Dog" with Dustin Hoffman, Oliver grills Hoffman over his sexual harassment claims and his limited responses to them.

Sigh

QUOTE (Donaldo @ Dec 4, 2017 -> 08:44 PM) Sign-and-flip? Castillo should fetch a quality prospect or two at the deadline. I could still see the White Sox rushing Collins that much, but if this buys him another year and he's not pushed up until 2019 I would be quite happy with the end result.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Dec 4, 2017 -> 02:54 PM) Trump shrinks Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments by 85% and 50% respectively. Patagonia.com homepage currently:

Director Bryan Singer has apparently been randomly missing from the set of the in-production Queen Biopic (Starring Rami Malek) and has been removed from the production. Your guess is as good as mine as to whether this means there is about to be "News coming out" about Singer.

QUOTE (steveno89 @ Dec 4, 2017 -> 06:31 PM) Unless he bounces back, the Cabrera contract is the total disaster. He's set to get paid $184 million guaranteed over the next 6 seasons, which is a ton obviously. Signing a 33 year old to an eight year contract just screams bad idea, and I think the Tigers will suffer as a result. Of course it is easier to hand a 8+ year deal to a player in their mid 20's, but the downside is very real. The Harper/Machado free agency figures very well could reach insane levels that I am not sure the White Sox should be messing with (+$400 million deals). Interestingly, so far that Cano deal has not been bad. A quick bit of math suggests he's been worth 16.4 fWAR so far in 4 years with the Mariners. So far he's been worth about $130 million in performance to the Mariners and they've paid him $98 million. They're on the hook for $240 million and, with inflation, they're ahead of the game. It doesn't look like he's been worth that much to them because they haven't made the playoffs, but that's the "trick of the free agent market". He's actually producing at a rate above his contract, but because the Mariners weren't that good of a team, they haven't done anything with that performance.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Dec 4, 2017 -> 04:33 PM) I also agree more with G&T that obstruction of justice, at least to the level the Trump appears to be engaging in it, should qualify as an impeachable offense. What if he starts publicly directing the DOJ to investigate and file charges against Democratic candidates in the run up to 2018, or his challenger in 2020? My question in reply is - should Bill Clinton have been convicted and removed in 1998? Because the standard you just set out says yes. I think it needs to be higher than that.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Dec 4, 2017 -> 04:33 PM) I don't think you need a FISA warrant to wiretap foreign communications e.g. Kislyak calling home to Russia is going to have the NSA listening in with or without a warrant. They were likely already listening in on Kislyak because he's assumed to be a spy, and they picked up Flynn talking to him. Once your surveillance of foreign nationals picks up a US citizen, the legal hurdles start, but as far as I understand it they can listen in on foreign nationals making overseas calls to other foreign nationals all day long if they want. According to the Post, "The FBI routinely obtains FISA warrants to monitor the communications of foreign diplomats in the United States, including the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak." - Basically, because he's thought to be an intelligence agent, it's pretty easy to get a judge to agree to a warrant targeting him to see what Americans he communicates with as those Americans could be Russian agents.

QUOTE (G&T @ Dec 4, 2017 -> 03:54 PM) In this case, Flynn had already lied to the FBI, which is itself a crime, and Trump then told Comey to drop the investigation (when Trump apparently knew about the crime). Is that not enough? Anyway, this is crazy. According to you, the president can fire the head of the FBI, or commit any other act of obstruction in order to prevent the investigation of crimes commitment by anyone except himself. This is what autocrats do, and you have no problem with it. And what if there is highly classified evidence that would show collusion but it isn't admissible in court, or the intelligence community doesn't want to reveal its sources? Trump should be allowed to remain as president because the provable offense isn't enough? To me...for the standard of "High Crimes and Misdemeanors", yes, that is not enough. If we don't want the President to be able to do that...then Congress has to write that law. If it isn't admissible, then no he should remain president. Because if you're wiretapping a foreign power you should have gotten a FISA warrant. That's how Flynn was caught, you talk to a foreign operative and the government should have regular FISA warrants permitting that collection. The government has to follow the rules in order to bring charges.

QUOTE (Tony @ Dec 4, 2017 -> 01:51 PM) You have to think that played into the Sox overall decision just a little bit. I’m sure Front Offices saw this coming for both teams. Not saying it was the biggest decision for the Sox to rebuild, but when you looked at the landscape, two teams in your division having to hit the reset button helps. Cleveland being monstrously loaded through 2018 and beyond probably also. They might well win 100+ again next year. In fact, with the Tigers, White Sox, and Royals in that division, they're probably likely to win 100+.

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Dec 4, 2017 -> 02:24 PM) I agree. I think there are going to be plenty of innings that'll need to be gobbled up, especially the first half. I think you can only plan on Kopech & Hansen for the second half, maybe Rodon then too. They might have to sign 600 or so innings worth of dudes to be safe. I think they very clearly need one more starter. I could even be talked into finding someone who could be a swing guy to give extra rest or to deal with anyone who gets sent down. Without caring about the order of players, here's the rotation right now: Fulmer Lopez Giolito Shields Rodon - DL If they found someone on the waiver wire or in the rule 5, that can even work - if Kopech is ready to come up in the 2nd half, you can send Shields to the bullpen or limit the workloads on the other youngsters in the 2nd half.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Dec 4, 2017 -> 03:32 PM) Isn't this basically why Clinton was impeached. Correct, and I don't think that rose to the level of an impeachable offense. We do not want this to become a Starr investigation, where it's all about people's interpretations of testimony to a prosecutor clearly out to get the guy and no underlying crime.

QUOTE (G&T @ Dec 4, 2017 -> 12:41 PM) A politician using his authority to stop an investigation to protect his friends and family is also against the American system. I think the simple version of it is...if the President is obstructing justice, tell me what he did that he is obstructing. In the Clinton 98 case, he did not commit an underlying crime. He lied to cover up a relationship that, while inappropriate, was still 2 consenting, legal adults. Follow that standard - tell me what the underlying crime is that the President himself did. If he just wanted to protect Flynn because they're both white supremacists and if you want to beat up enough muslims you need good people to do it...that's not an impeachable offense to my eyes. If he wanted to protect Flynn because Flynn was one of his co-conspirators in a crime that he had knowledge of during its commission and then used to great effect in the campaign...that's a fundamentally different setup because he's also a conspirator.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Dec 4, 2017 -> 11:04 AM) Any particular reason why? Holding the President accountable for distorting the justice system seems particularly worthy. I think it's constitutionally questionable enough of a case - the president has the authority to fire the FBI director for so many reasons that "asking him to shut down an investigation" isn't a strong enough event to reach High Crimes and Misdemeanors. He has the authority to fire people who serve at his pleasure, and unless we rewrite the laws, the law isn't clear on this. If Congress wanted to protect the FBI director, they could have made it a crime to fire the FBI director, and they haven't done so. It's the same standard I would have held Clinton to regarding obstruction - it's seriously questionable that the President has to answer those questions when serving as the President, the Supreme Court has never settled much of this, and that firing I'm not sure reaches the level to me. Prove to me that he conspired with a foreign power to commit a crime on US Soil in order to win his election. That's a fundamental crime against the American system.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Dec 4, 2017 -> 09:24 AM) Exclusive: Trump lawyer claims the "President cannot obstruct justice" reminds me very much of: If Donald Trump were to go down as President, I would want it to be because of something other than obstructing this investigation.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Dec 4, 2017 -> 09:56 AM) I think what the last 3 years proved is it needs to expand. If your criteria changes year to year its not a good system IMO. Expansion would be pretty cool, though you'd probably have to eliminate one of those OOC cupcakes to manage the schedule. I think what it proves to me is that you should win your college football games and if you do that then you're in the playoffs and it's doing a decent job producing good games and a believable champion.

QUOTE (bmags @ Dec 4, 2017 -> 11:54 AM) Right, this is the Bryant situation right? Assuming Ohtani is a top of the rotation fixture it probably is more likely he's escalated to that number (Whatever it grows to by then). But still, a freaking bargain. If everyone's right, a team will be getting a top of rotation starter for the signing bonus of like a compensatory pick in the amateur draft. We gave Gavin Sheets 2 million. The team signing him will also be paying $20 million to the Japanese team that has his rights as a posting fee, so it's a little more than the compensatory pick price altogether. Still a bargain, but $22 million, not $2 million.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 27, 2017 -> 11:24 AM) The Associated Press‏Verified account @AP 6m6 minutes ago BREAKING: White House official: Trump will not campaign for embattled Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore before Dec. 12 election. This would be fun if it didn't involve the rape of 14 year olds.

QUOTE (spiderman @ Dec 4, 2017 -> 11:09 AM) 300K? How are the Cubs even a candidate? What can the Mariners or Giants offer? Only about $2 million for each of them.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Dec 4, 2017 -> 09:09 AM) Honestly it’s really hard for me to say. I too thought the Sox checked off a lot of boxes, but I also thought he’d only consider an AL team if he was serious about hitting full time and four of the seven finalists are NL teams. Just impossible to say what teams promised and included in their sales pitches. Clearly the rumor he was completely against joining an established team was wrong based on the Dodgers & Cubs being there, but maybe he just wants to have some variety / points of context and has them at the bottom of the list. I think we need to wait and see who he ultimately picks before assuming most of what he said was BS because there are still some teams that fit that bill. I wonder if "See what Maddon has done using MVP guys at multiple positions" was a key part of their sell.

So, the Yankees are out and they have one of the top international signing pools remaining right? Those Braves kids, some of them are going to NY.