Balta1701

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Nov 3, 2016 -> 02:14 PM) Best farm systems ever? KC had to be bad a long, long time and had a lot of misfires in their drafts. Kluber was a trade. Besides Lindor, who on Cleveland is a top line guy they developed? Royals farm system: best of the decade? To answer your specific question: You're totally correct though, they have also done exceptionally well trading for other teams minor leaguers. I'd say that both drafting and developing well and making successful trades to build up your organization seems like the exact winning strategy used by both of those teams.

QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Nov 3, 2016 -> 02:06 PM) At least Mets fans and A's fans understood why they were second fiddle to their rivals. They were/are actually good. As Sox fans, we've been second best for years to a team that didn't do anything in over a century. There has basically no reason for the Cubs to be as popular as they have been over the past 20 years. If any other team in any other sport had the record they had they'd be the laughing stock of the league and rightfully so. Yet Cubs fans can't understand why we have been so bitter over the years. Being continually forgotten because of a team that gets more recognition for losing than winning is not fun. Well, now we're in the other boat, we're the 2nd best team and we'll be that way for a long, long time.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Nov 3, 2016 -> 11:06 AM) Saying the Cubs do things the right way and expecting the White Sox to copy what they do is just wrong. At their lowest point, they have $100 million more to play with every year than the White Sox. Theo is great, but he is like Phil Jackson. He didn't put himself in a situation where the odds were going to be so stacked against him. A total rebuild is a lot easier when you still draw almost 3 million a year in the lean years. Then compare us to the Kansas City Royals and the Cleveland Indians. There you have 3 world series appearances and 1 title coming out of the AL Central in the last 3 years, both of which are from franchises that started off with lower payrolls than us. Those teams accomplishing things while the White Sox did not is no coincidence. It is no coincidence that there are 2 franchises over the last few years that have been described as having the "best farm systems ever" and those 2 franchises won the last 2 world series.

Of course he's on the hot seat. Do you think that in his position he wouldn't have purchased a chair with a built in heater to keep his butt warm and comfortable during those long, lazy Chicago winters?

QUOTE (whitesoxjr27 @ Nov 3, 2016 -> 10:53 AM) When did theo leave the red sox? 2006? He only saw one ws while he was there correct? He resigned after 2005 for some reason and then came back as VP of baseball operations after 2006, where he was until 2011 when he left to take over the Cubs. He was only GM for 1 of their titles but he was there for 2 of them and had his fingerprints on the team that won the 3rd.

So, in the past 48 hours, we've had a church in Miss frequented by black people set on fire, an Islamic center in Florida vandalized with "F*** Islam" spraypainted on it, University of Wisconsin student from Saudi Arabia beaten to death in the street, 2 cops murdered by a guy who got kicked out of the football stadium next door for bringing a confederate flag, and one of the main KKK newspapers (which is apparently a thing that still exists) officially endorsed the Republican Nominee.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Nov 3, 2016 -> 08:29 AM) I think the Sox lost the bandwagon fans about 2 years ago if there ever were any Unfortunately now the sox don't have a chance at the kids of those bandwagon fans either.

I guess somehow I feel some gratitude to Rick and Kenny this morning. The me from 5 years ago would have been much angrier today. Now it's just a grudging acceptance. That partnership has made me care about baseball far less than I did previously, and based on this test it isn't just this team.

QUOTE (soxforlife05 @ Nov 3, 2016 -> 12:39 AM) The Indians just went down to Game 7 without a catcher and an entire outfield of stiffs. The pitcher could be a problem but we would only need to get 1 game out of a Gonzalez/Shields/emerging prospect in a hypothetical World Series scenario. Cespedes would be your CF. Tilson 4th OF, Saladino super sub/DH and we could see if we can bring back Morneau on the cheap and sign a platoon catcher to pair with Narvaez and push Collins quick if he shows signs of success. Seriously just go look at the numbers. The Indians put up 46 fWAR in the Regular Season. The White Sox put up 31. If I never heard from this organization how there's this great easy shortcut, how they could be winners without having to build the best team, it would leave me a much happier person.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Nov 2, 2016 -> 11:14 PM) The umpire said they're being told there is nothing else coming. For 2 hours or so. It will then pour for hours.

For reference there is about a 1.5 hour ish gap and then a huge line of storms will move in.

QUOTE (StrykerSox @ Nov 2, 2016 -> 10:52 PM) I'm not a Twitter guy- is that for real? That is unsettling... Yeah, no way to redo the posting time. That's legit.

So everyone on twitter is now retweeting this prediction of the world ending during a Cubs Indians extra inning World Series game 7. Check the date it was posted on.

I'm wondering if this might not be the single most watched baseball moment in the history of the game.

QUOTE (whitesoxjr27 @ Nov 2, 2016 -> 04:13 PM) Since HR send out a broadcast message about wearing cub gear Thursday for the victory tonight. Should i wear my 2005 Sox stuff if the cubs lose? Or is that too much? haha Yes, do it.

I don't have a WSJ subscription but am generally curious - does Guaranteed Rate count as one of the "nonbank lenders with lower standards" being referred to in this WSJ Piece that are taking up a larger share of the mortgage market?

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Nov 2, 2016 -> 10:57 AM) A lot of the moves looked good on paper from the last 2 off-seasons. And the right response to thinking that continues to be - reevaluate how you came to that decision. If you think something looks good on paper and it proves incorrect, double check your thinking process so as to avoid repeating the same result.

Wow, the Indians are actually in better shape than I thought. Napoli, Crisp, and Davis hit FA after this year, but those guys are generally the easiest to replace. Miller and Santana hit FA after 2017, that's tougher, but there's no post 2017 cliff in there. Brantley and Tomlin hit after 2018. Barring injury, they could easily be a "slow burn" team - there's enough talent on there to keep them competitive for years even if 1-2 guys gets hurt.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Nov 2, 2016 -> 02:55 AM) If the White Sox didn't have the necessary budget leeway to add another $5-10 million (the cost of finishing with either Fowler or Desmond), then they shouldn't have bothered to sign Robertson, Cabrera, LaRoche, trade for Frazier, etc. The margin of error was just way too thin, and it proved itself to be prophetic when Rollins and Latos struggled, Avila/Navarro struggled/got hurt and finally the Austin Jackson injury. Of course, the most mystifying part of last season was adding a lot more money onto the payroll for James Shields (when they were still in contention), money that they apparently didn't feel justified spending before the season began, even though it amount to much less than they eventually allocated to Shields. You can't defend the White Sox front office for falling short on adding an impact bat because they "ran out of money/budget/resources," because EVERYONE AT SOXTALK saw that situation coming from a MILE away. In fact, while many were not confident about a Cespedes deal, Gordon was a very real possibility, along with Desmond and possibly Fowler. Obviously, Gordon got hurt, but his asking price came down $18-28 million from the original expected/asking price at the beginning of the off-season. Looking at Jackson's last 2-3 seasons and his enigmatic performance, it was about as realistic for him to return to a 3 WAR player as it was for Lawrie. Of course, they could have traded for Jean Segura, for example, but 28 other teams missed out on that lower-hanging fruit (Trumbo as well). So let's see, how many problems can I come up with this? 1. Adding either Gordon or Cespedes, on their own, doesn't make this even a wild card team. 2. My experience in the spring was not that "Everyone saw it coming a mile away". I'd say it was the reverse, most people were content with the moves made and although they wanted Cespedes, thought the team had done a good enough job. Somewhere out there, there's an article about how the Avila/Navarro pairing would be a huge upgrade from the Flowers year beforehand. 3. It is totally unsurprising that they grabbed Shields. Add in a sprinkle of desparation with the fact that they suddenly had $13 million freed up after an unnameable person retired during spring training and there you go. 4. An extra $5-10 million does not make this a championship contending team. They aren't that close. If they'd landed Upton, Gordon, or Cespedes, this team would still have been an afterthought in the wild card race. The game you're playing, the game you have to play to make this work, is to look after the fact and see that Desmond and Fowler wound up solid bargains while Upton and the others wound up overpaid and say "oh if only we'd grabbed the guys who were bargains". You can get lucky like that sometimes, but not with every signing. The Cubs got really lucky signing Fowler for another year. The price? They also signed Heyward.

QUOTE (Flash Tizzle @ Nov 2, 2016 -> 08:57 AM) My God, let's hope no one aside from Hawk has the audacity to say such a comment. Had we not lost those relievers things wouldn't have unraveled!

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Nov 2, 2016 -> 12:30 AM) Really funny you didn't use the Golden State Warriors, Dallas Mavericks, or, to continue within the NBA, the f***ing Cleveland Cavaliers within that example. Nevermind the Tampa Bay Rays (who merely were constantly competitive for years and years, despite a terrible payroll), Kansas City Royals, Seattle Seahawks, or Denver Broncos. Save for, maybe, the Broncos, show me the history of winning of those franchises' timelines compared to the White Sox. Also, because it's baseball, the Sox are not done being relevant. In other words...no, guy. I feel it worth adding that the Rays are a terrible example to bring up because their fanbase/stadium is so weak that they can't even sell out playoff games.

QUOTE (Flash Tizzle @ Nov 1, 2016 -> 10:43 PM) If anything, I'd hope any potential Cubs World Series tears apart that last remaining doubt of Sox management about rebuilding. That lingering worry always thrown around of Sox fans not supporting the effort. No, I've never read or heard them verbally say they're reluctant to rebuild (other then the indirect evidence of JR wanting to "go for it.") but obviously they're not very supportive of the idea We need to just throw aside any doubt or worry. Stop thinking whether they successfully can rebuild or not, stop worrying about the remote possibility of the team relocating, and sure as hell not worry aboyt the Cubs. Just do what's best for the future of this TEAM. When you look at the alternatives, there are none that don't involve dumpster diving or hoping for a team wide resurgence. We've done this for many years. Why not try the ONE method we haven't tried? If it's 5 years from now and we're stuck with a terrible rebuilding process, reevaluate. Anyways, what would it matter if we purposely sucked for 5 years or (as we've done since 2012) tried to win but still sucked I think it'll be the exact opposite. "We're only 1 player away, we'd have been right there with the Indians if those relievers would have just stayed healthy". But then I think they'd have said that no matter what.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Nov 1, 2016 -> 01:18 PM) 24 years old with fame and cash in Miami, a lot of us would make some bad decisions. He made more than one that night and he paid a price way too high. Why the cocaine does throw most of us aback, it still shouldn't make this any less of a tragedy. We all do stupid things. I do take issue with the family attorney saying it could have been involuntary. That is ridiculous, but I am sure he is laying the groundwork for defending a lawsuit or two. The one part about the bolded that bothers me is - if he's going out boating, intoxicated, with cocaine in his system, and he's doing that with a family left behind, then maybe there's some degree of sympathy for him that vanishes because by those bad decisions he left an unborn kid without a father.

As much as I hate to say it, I have to agree with DA. Are we really that bleeping scared of a "down arrow" associated with a company? Come on people. Are we going to remove all the down arrows on stairs because they're pointing down towards the basement and we don't want our team to be cellar dwellers? Heck, we can't have a basement can we, we also can't have a 4th floor because we've gotten stuck in 4th place and that's bad. Maybe the basement should be the wild card level. Is the park name great? no. Is it clearly worse than "US Cellular Field"? No, it's a syllable shorter and at least this company has a business presence in Chicago these days. Does "The rate" sound worse than the cell? your call. They sold the naming rights a long time ago, worry about whether we're unable to attract quality sponsors for some reason. A down arrow sends a bad message about a franchise that's in a downward spiral? Great, fix the stupid downward spiral and no one will care. Fire Rick Hahn, send his lackeys off to run the Kane County Cougars, put a winning ballclub on the field for once this generation and no one will care at all that there's a downward pointing arrow on the side of the ballpark.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 31, 2016 -> 09:50 PM) Did you hear his segment on the N word? He was referring to the African American woman who said the word was for any male. So Rush said he could now use it. He was being a smart aleck but why racist? I prefer not to say the word. Yes I grew up hearing it from friends and relatives on the far south side but even back then I couldn't say it. Please, go and use that word in front of a bunch of people and give the exact same justification. You're telling me it will be ok, that we shouldn't judge him based on that. Go out and prove it. Sarcastic usage is fine, you just said so.