Balta1701

QUOTE (Ezio Auditore @ Dec 9, 2016 -> 10:24 AM) He's going to prison? Yesssssssssssss Wait, Pence would be president. Noooooooooooo I'll take Mike Pence as President. I will have substantially less fear that I'm going to have to hide people in my attic to keep them away from the government. I don't like internment, but it's a temporary measure.

QUOTE (bmags @ Dec 9, 2016 -> 11:55 AM) This is 100% what I thought would happen, but his low cost is equally fighting that those teams view their prospects as tools to keep their cost down. There is no "fill in for free agency" for them, so it is stealing from Peter to pay Paul or whatever that folksy saying is. I have been very surprised at how out of it the Pirates are, I thought they would have some urgency but they seem resigned to their fate as being behind Cards/Cubs. I still cannot see how Houston doesn't finally pull the trigger on an everything but Bregman deal for him before the end of the offseason. The need is too great and the have a roster that is ready with him and not ready without him.

The one thing that Q has going for him right now is that a low payroll team that wants to play the "be in the race every year" game can look at him and say that 4 years of control is perfect for what they want to do. If the Pirates want to compete every year, he fits there. The Astros are looking at a 5+ year horizon and 4 years basically falls in that. The closer you get to his FA date, the value might not substantially drop, but the number of teams that could get in might drop. He's still the price of a #2 starter either way, but if you start having teams drop out because they will only look long term, then your chances of getting that return could drop.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 9, 2016 -> 11:12 AM) Which won't happen. I totally agree we will not be in on Harper. The matchup with the Yankees is too perfect. Beyond that, I'd be skeptical that we'd be in on Machado, but we'll have the payroll space to do it if we don't do something stupid first. But that class is not just 2 players. Donaldson. McCutchen. Brantley. Pollock. And that's assuming we don't go after the pitchers, who include guys named Kershaw and Harvey.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Dec 8, 2016 -> 05:23 PM) I wonder if they ran this by the legal department. This has all sorts of issues. Not the least of which is that MR imaging is extremely unreliable. Somehow there has to be a line from this to the Aiken pick, right? The players agreed to it to avoid missing out on a top level signing?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 9, 2016 -> 11:07 AM) I want to say the Cubs added an extra year and was $20 million higher than than the next best offer on Lester. I don't care if you win 40 games in 2018, if you put up enough money then these guys will be "Interested".

QUOTE (JenksIsMyHero @ Dec 9, 2016 -> 10:00 AM) Wait, so because he may or may not get a royalty check for a reality tv show that has never been political, there's now a conflict of interest between him and NBC/MSNBC news? Couldn't you have said the same thing the last 2 years? Has there been any indication that NBC/MSNBC has taken it easy on him? Well, they had the grabbing tape and didn't run it for so long that someone leaked it to the post, that one is at least confirmed. There were rumors of other tapes being in the hands of Apprentice producers that would have been equally bad had they leaked, but those are just rumors so I can't hang much on that.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Dec 9, 2016 -> 10:54 AM) I thought that, overall, premiums have been following the same curve if not slightly lower, but on the exchanges specifically that insurer costs were higher than anticipated. This year, they're basically sitting where they were projected to be when the ACA passed, after a couple years cheaper than projected. So, couple years cheaper than expected then get back to where expected - overall it cost less than projected and there was 1 big price spike to get up close to trend. So the whole program and insurance expenditures have been cheaper than expected. It would take another year with jumps like this year to put it as more expensive than predicted.

I loved Civil War and am not tired of these movies as far as I can tell, but I found some of what Steve said about this trailer to be true to me also. It seemed a bit uninspired and I didn't find it all that exciting, it seemed like the story had been told recently, from what was in the trailer. Maybe something different will hit at some point, it is just a trailer. That said, I definitely enjoyed that last 2 seconds. International trailer

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Dec 9, 2016 -> 10:23 AM) The poorest of the 20 million people who have gained coverage, roughly 7-8 million people, have gained it through the Medicaid expansion and aren't impacted by insurance premiums. The sick, or those with pre-existing conditions, got zero coverage before and now have coverage. The reason we've been seeing premiums rise as much as they have is that insurance companies didn't anticipate how poor the level of health for people just getting insurance would be. I continue to find this incorrect. Premiums have actually risen, even counting this year, more slowly than they did during the Bush years. This year has partially caught up with the projections, but health care costs have been increasing at >>5% per year since before I existed. I read statements like the previous one "My insurance premiums were steady" as generally how it works overall - not everyone's costs went up 5% a year. During boom years it would be taken up by businesses so that they didn't lose employees. Not every state goes up at the same time - one state will do a 20% hike one year because there's regulatory approval steps they'd have to take to make smaller jumps happen and those have costs. If your premium was steady, then that's because something else was taking up the cost increases for a couple years and the jump now is it getting passed on to you. Overall health spending is still below what you'd have projected before the PPACA passed, even considering how much care that population needed. That's the classic blaming of everything in the industry on Obamacare when that's just how the industry operated. I understand it - the ACA could have been a more expansive program and done a better job of this, but then it wouldn't have been passed and tens of thousands of extra people would be dead. When we kick the poors back into uninsurance where they belong, costs will still keep going up at that same rate and you'll still go 3 years with steady costs then your company will renegotiate a contract and you'll take a huge hit. At least the only ones kicked to the curb will be the poors, but they don't deserve to live anyway.

If Moncada and several of the pitchers are hitting the bigs during the 2018 season, then they're sophomores during 2019. That makes the offseason after the 2019 offseason a good time to target candidates to fill roles - if you don't have someone to play some position at AA in your system by that point, then that position is a spot where you need someone on your next competitive team. If you're sitting there with no obvious LF, you do not hurt yourself by buying a LF. You may not need that huge price player in year 1, but you also set yourself up so that if everything goes right, you might be able to make a playoff run. What is different from saying about that team "If everything goes right they make the playoffs" from when you said that about the 2015 and 2016 White Sox? If things go wrong, if 1-2 guys struggle, then you have a good answer to how your team gets substantially better and is unstoppable in 2020.

QUOTE (bmags @ Dec 8, 2016 -> 07:34 PM) SEC needs to monitor Trump family positions on any company he comments on that moves the market. Why, so that they can gather data about how effective their comments are at moving the market and better prepare their investments for his next comment to maximize their return on investment?

QUOTE (Wanne @ Dec 8, 2016 -> 08:36 PM) that's why they get paid the big bucks lol. But like you and blacksox said...have an infield of Moncada/Anderson/Bregman AND Abreu...good lord...that is SICK! That's why I'd do the Q for Bregman straight up...I just think he's gonna be a really good one. But what do I know... I have difficulty imagining Jose Abreu as a major positive contributor in 2019 after his previous 3 years and that's the first year where I'd really be looking at Moncada as hopefully being unstoppable, so I mentally counted him as a guy needing replaced by then, or at least not as a major strength.

QUOTE (Wanne @ Dec 8, 2016 -> 08:15 PM) touche'. However...at this point I'd still be more about quality than quantity given what we've already gotten back for Sale and Eaton. If you're worried about position player prospects and you get back a single, cost-controlled star, a guy who hits .300+ with 20+ HR and fills a #2/#3 hitter spot in your lineup, and you combine that with Anderson and Moncada, you've filled out 3 of the top 4 slots in your lineup with what will hopefully be strong contributors. With no one else who is a big name, just a bunch of average contributors...team that with a rotation that is at the top of baseball, and you have a roster that is competitive for the division. If he's that good, if we're talking about 3 dynamic players manning 3b, 2b, and SS - find me one more bat who can hit 35 HR (there are several on the market every year right now), find me some average players to hit 5-8 who are good defenders, and I have a championship caliber White Sox roster. Your scouts better like Bregman to do it, the 4/5 player concepts are tempting if you have any available...but a star would do it too.

QUOTE (steveno89 @ Dec 8, 2016 -> 08:00 PM) Agreed I would not trade Quintana for only Bregman. Our system needs more depth and we need to get 3 to 5 players in return for Quintana. We have needs all over the place and a major trade chip like him should return us several high quality pieces With what we've already seen I lean towards preferring this type of deal as well, but if you put me on the spot and made Bregman available I probably take it if that's the best offer I've seen.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Dec 8, 2016 -> 07:24 PM) Collins will not end up as a catcher. I'd like Collins to get an extended look at catcher, but that means keeping him in the minors for 2+ years to work at that spot, meaning we need a catcher this year.

One thing I actually do find interesting about Jones's Blown Save stat is that 1/2 of them in his career happened last year, in 2016 he has 9 blown saves. Compared to the rest of his career, his 2016 peripherals aren't bad. His K rate is normal, maybe even a bit high. His walk rate was the lowest of his career. His extra base hit rate was the best of his career. However, his home run rate spiked. From those numbers, I look at Jones and wonder if he wasn't slightly unlucky last year - a few extra HR and a few well placed hits cost him a lot of games and maybe even inflated his ERA a bit. With him blowing 9 saves, I can make a decent case that if he does the same thing next year (or if he's even slightly stronger being farther removed from TJS) he could look even better in 2017.

QUOTE (ChiSoxFanMike @ Dec 8, 2016 -> 11:42 AM) Guys...the Sox aren't a lock to pick #1 next year. Don't get your hopes up. I'm ok picking top 3 the next 2 years.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 8, 2016 -> 11:34 AM) As far as I'm concerned, 2017 is a lost year in terms of team competitiveness. Therefore, try out some guys who might have a shot at being something later, even if a small one. For the outfield, I think you need to get rid of Avi. But I have no problem with guys like Tilson, Coats and Liriano getting playing time (along with Melky of course if he's still here, which he shouldn't be). That's three guys who can play competent defense, and all have a non-zero chance of hitting enough to show that can at least be a future 4th OF and maybe, maybe, more. So give them a look. There's no 2017 playoff run to harm, and you might find something that ends up being helpful for 2018 and 2019. Avi Garcia sounds to me like the rest of that paragraph except for the competent defense part. Might find something that winds up being helpful with the bat.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Dec 7, 2016 -> 06:37 PM) So who's it going to be that coughs up the next haul for Q? Astros, Yanks, Rockies? It has to be the Astros right? I mean, they've got a playoff team right now, but right now I'm looking forward to the Boston/Cleveland ALCS slugfest followed by the matchup of the winner with the Cubs. The Astros have a playoff team on paper, but those other teams are loaded.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 7, 2016 -> 06:38 PM) Funny, that is exactly what the rebuild was supposed to be about now. I'd say it was about having enough talent in the organization that you're not trying to buy an entire roster on the FA market, you're looking for a key final piece or two.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Dec 7, 2016 -> 06:33 PM) Yes...which means I don't just trade Frazier for bodies..I need actual players. I also view it that Frazier has potential bounce back upside and we could always move him closer to the deadline. That said, I feel RH has some urgency to fast track all of this, so we are probably going to see more guys moved sooner vs. later. I mean, I wouldn't trade him for salary relief alone either, I'd want 1 quality prospect of some sort back, but a pick between rounds 2 and 3 isn't something we should be worrying about whatsoever.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Dec 7, 2016 -> 06:32 PM) I like the rebuild but can I just say there will be no jubilation come April when they can't even sell out Opening Day? When we get into the thick of its it's going to get scary ugly. Those who pay close attention in the winter make a fanbase not. If you're scared about dropping to 15,000 tickets a game from 20,000 tickets a game and your ballpark holds 38,000 - you are not thinking this through. If you're scared about your tv ratings dropping and your TV ratings are 30th/30 teams, you are not thinking correctly.

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 7, 2016 -> 06:28 PM) Did Moncada die

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Dec 7, 2016 -> 06:28 PM) I would think if we moved Frazier, we'd be talking about Walker or an Austin Barnes....something along those lines. That said, I see very few scenarios where Frazier is moved now. Dodgers are probably the primary landing spot and they won't move on Frazier until Turner's market has settled (nor do I see the other teams looking at Turner moving to Frazier until he moves). Lack of FA market should help us a lot with Frazier. Despite a down year (outside of HR's), I think the weak free agent class will artificially inflate back up his value to where we should get a piece or two that could help us longer term (where as Frazier doesn't help longer term). That said, we need to get enough back that outvalues the pick we'd presumably get with him. You realize that his pick will be after the 2nd round right?