Balta1701

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jul 25, 2016 -> 04:08 PM) Because with the lead after the 7th inning the Cubs have been extremely good. QUOTE (shipps @ Jul 25, 2016 -> 04:13 PM) You ask any Cub fan, expert or the like who follow this team (besides fathom) the biggest worry for them is their pen. There really arent any other teams that I would say definitely has a stronger rotation for a playoff series than the Cubs. Hey, I hope they made the wrong move but to me this s*** is what puts them over the top more than any other move they could have made. I admit if I were a Cub fan I would have rather gotten a guy like Miller rather than a rental but for this year Chapman is going to be what you need in the playoffs. I can't find double positional splits for relievers any more but a quick check finds that the Cubs have the 7th best bullpen ERA in the NL and the 6th best in close and late situations. That's not terrible but it's worse than any of the NL playoff contenders except San Fran. What adding a Chapman might do even if it doesn't change their overall performance with the lead and late is it lets them shift Rondon and others into 8th inning roles. Now if its tied in the 8th or 7th, or they're behind by 1, they have a better chance to hold the game. For example, the Cubs lost a game in the 9th inning yesterday in the 9th inning on the road after tying the game up in the top of the 9th. They went to Montgomery, a lefty, rather than their closer, because they were on the road and had the game gone on they still could have needed someone in the official closer's role.

QUOTE (Tex @ Jul 26, 2016 -> 01:05 PM) No matter what Robin did posters here would say it was wrong. I promise you...had no player cut up theirs or other people's uniforms, no one would be saying Robin was wrong and should have had his players deliberately damage their equipment.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Jul 24, 2016 -> 01:02 PM) So when does the suspension officially start? Last night was game 1 of 5.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Jul 23, 2016 -> 09:23 PM) Not gonna lie. As a fan, I would love to see Sale terrorize the National League. he could use the scissors...

The spouse is wondering if he was actually caught in the act with scissors in hand because that would be extra funny.

Well this was an interesting thing to find out during post movie pizza night.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 22, 2016 -> 12:21 AM) Texas has hundreds of miles of great beaches. Pretty much anything from Galveston to South Padre Island is great stuff. Port Lavaca, Corpus Christi, Sand Dollar Island also worth noting. Been looking and can't find a solid combination of "well reviewed hotel" and "actually on the beach so that you don't have to drive 3 miles to it every time".

Other topic: the Brewers have a disturbing number of former white sox farm hands. Tonight I have Elmore, Wilkins, and Marinez, in addition to Guerra not pitching tonight.

Anyone have any suggestions for a 3-4 day resort with pool or beach style trip somewhere in or near Texas?

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 20, 2016 -> 07:04 PM) Have a feeling they go after someone big like Archer or Gray https://mobile.twitter.com/spshoot/status/755902564420444160 I would not be going after starting pitching if I were them. Even with a bad streak their starters still can stand equal with anyone as can their offense. Put a bullpen with that and see what happens.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jul 20, 2016 -> 10:06 PM) Kershaw's back is no better, shut down indefinitely, may not return this year. And iamshack for president. Ptatc, do you come into this thread? Is this like a career damaging or career threatening issue? We've heard so much about how terrible back surgery is, is this the end of Kershaw's incredible run?

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 21, 2016 -> 02:31 PM) Q or Sale could be legit options for Pirates. Not often aces who have great contracts are on the market. The beauty of Sale & Q is that they might actually be more valuable to smaller market clubs who have the prospects, than say the larger market clubs who might not get as big of a "benefit" from the "discounted / surplus" contract that the players have. I.e., with the Dodgers and their payroll, the benefits of a cheap ace like Sale are not near as critical as to a team like the Pirates, etc. That isn't to say the value doesn't exist, I just think the overall benefit is greater for teams who can't hand out the major FA contracts. Someone posted the Pirates the other day and after trying to write about why it wouldn't work I talked myself into thinking they have the means to get it done. The problem is on both sides though. Fair payment for one of these guys is their top 3 prospects (taillon, Glasnow, Meadows, plus their catching prospect) and the Pirates aren't going to give up both pitchers plus meadows in the same deal and I don't care who its for...and the White Sox aren't going to move these guys.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Jul 21, 2016 -> 09:11 AM) I say the Sox should try to extend Sale and Q again. See if they would take Danks type money. I know that would be a HUGE underpayment but another 4 years for each for $60-75M with no-trade options would be great. It would be a long shot but they have both seen what happened to Danks and they have to see all the Tommy Johns going on. Maybe they bite. I don't think anyone has replied to this yet, but let's answer this and I'm going to use Danks's number exactly. Assuming the options are picked up, Sale has $40 million over the next 3 years on his deal. If you tried to offer him 5/$60, you'd be asking him to commit to the following 2 seasons at $10 million per. Fair market value for those 2 years as of right now is >$30 million. If you offered Sale 5/$110 right now, while tearing up his deal as of the start of the offseason, he should still turn it down because he's a $200 million contract pitcher right now. After this year, Jose Quintana has 4 years and ~$37 million remaining on his deal (some things kick in depending on where his arb status would have been). Offering him 5/$60 is adding 1 year at $23 million to his deal. I'd do that if he would and I think it would be silly for him to do that. He'll be 31 when his current contract ends, so if you start talking about adding >$25 million value seasons onto the end, that would be a sensible thing for him to accept. I do wonder if we'll ever see a team that has a "Sale-like" pitcher start offering to just add $35 million guaranteed seasons onto that guy's contract one at a time every year he stays healthy to see what happens. Keeps FA multiple years away and loads up that contract more gradually. That would be a contract innovation I'd contribute.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 20, 2016 -> 04:03 PM) The other thing is he makes my point for me even though he is trying to argue. If they thought Baez was a top 10 can't miss prospect, isn't that the type of player that helps you make the playoffs? I agree. They are trying to make people think he is close to untouchable, but there actions speak louder than words, and the longer they hang on to him, and don't play him every day, the lower his trade value goes. I think he is their main chip at the deadline as well. Not at age 23. You didn't like the previous comparison? Carlos Rodon is 23. 23 year olds struggle sometimes.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 20, 2016 -> 02:53 PM) They relied on young guys last year, they relied on young guys this year. They must not be as high on them as they want everyone to think. Signing Zobrist to the contract they gave him is curious if Baez is half the player they try to pass him off to be, and they have no intention of trading. Last year they didn't come into the season thinking they were a world series contending team. Signing Zobrist was pricey but sensible for a world series contending team. It's the opposite of counting on Avisail Garcia and getting burned when he isn't a contributor - they weren't going to risk something like that derailing their season and that makes sense. They're trying to win a world series.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 20, 2016 -> 02:25 PM) He is facing RHP about 67% of the time vs. 80% or so an everyday player would face them. He is .245/.268/.390 vs. RHP. Defensively, I have no idea, but as an everyday player I think his offensive numbers per AB drop a bit. Still young, still improving, so who really knows what the future holds. He could be great, he could suck, he could be average. What puzzles me is if the Cubs were so sold on him, why did they put so many blocks into his playing time on the roster. Something there doesn't add up IMO. I think it's very clear - they wanted to win the world series this year and were smart enough to realize that relying on 23 year olds who haven't proven anything and have a long way to go is a great way to sabotage that.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jul 20, 2016 -> 12:50 PM) The Cubs love of Baez is confounding. Brett Lawrie has been a 1.0 WAR player for the White Sox so far this season and is on a path to being a 1.5-ish guy assuming no dropoff. Baez only has 2/3 the number of at bats, hasn't been an every day player, but has piled up 1.6 WAR already. He's been an above average contributor on offense, defense, and baserunning. He's also versatile, being used at multiple positions without being an obvious defensive weakness. He has cut his K-rate down to 22%, which isn't great yet but it's a major upgrade for him and in a 600 PA season that would leave him with 130ish Ks, which is a manageable number for a guy with decent power. And...he's only 23. I was skeptical about him after seeing him in the minors. He kept us cool with the wind kicked up by his swings and misses and then occasionally hit balls 400 feet. He's impressing me with his adapting at this age.

QUOTE (SouthSideSale @ Jul 20, 2016 -> 12:17 PM) I'm not sure what kind of value Brett Lawrie has. I'd extend him and keep he and Eaton. Keeps those two positions locked down. Lawrie has been what I thought he'd be. Honestly he's what I was hoping Beckham would turn out to be after I knew he wasn't going to be a stud. I'd much rather have Lawrie at second that Sanchez. I agree with a full rebuild I just know this team doesn't like to do it that's why I mentioned maybe keeping one of Q or Sale. I'm just all up in arms about this team so I'm going back and forth about full rebuilds or how they can fix it quicker. That's why I had my 2018 idea about a quicker fix than a full rebuild. I'm not sold on Saladino but he could at least fill a hole temporarily until someone's ready. We have some options down there but not many great ones. I'm hoping Engel can lock down CF next season. I'm all for a full rebuild. It can work. At least I think it can with the way they've been drafting. If you look back over the past several seasons including this year, Lawrie is going to come out at about a 1.5 fWAR per year player. He's not going to make your franchise but he's no where near a liability. With his level of consistency and ability to play both 2b and 3b, that's a $10 million a year player on this market, give or take. I wouldn't be surprised if extending him took 4/$40 or more on the years side considering he'll be filing for free agency before turning 28. However, he might actually have a bit of motivation to give a discount if you wanted to extend him before that because he's going to hit free agency after 2017 during the huge splurge in spending. With the number of guys who are flat out better players than him on the market he could wind up in the boat guys like Desmond and Fowler were this year - wanting a solid contract but finding that most teams filled their needs or spent their funds on better players. At least, that's the advice I'd be giving him if I were his agent.

QUOTE (harkness @ Jul 19, 2016 -> 06:05 PM) Robertson still has a lot of season to define his success level this year. Last night was really bad because after getting swept by the Angels that game was important for teams confidence moving forward. He still could have a solid season... The initial title and bravado of this thread was that Robertson was a "Fantastic" closer and that we should all shut up. I think that is debatable and TBD. He will have a solid season. The problem is, he's the 3rd highest paid closer in baseball. For that either you want a fantastic season or you want a playoff birth where he's a key figure in it. Barring that, when he does something bad, which happens in a "solid" season, people are going to be angry.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Jul 19, 2016 -> 04:11 PM) The Pirates have 6 guys in the top 100 ( 4 in the top 50 ). Those include 2 pitchers Taillon and Glasnow a C, OF, 1B and 3B. Pirates are looking for starting pitching help preferrably someone under control. Sale is that. It's a genuinely intriguing matchup. The local papers are talking about adding pitching, Sale fits their demands perfectly, they could part with their catching prospect easily since they just signed Cervelli and you could possibly talk them out of Bell since they have Jaso signed for next year as well. I'm not sure how set the Pirates are on making a splash - they're hesitant to give up a big package every year it seems and this year they're notably out of the WC right now and McCutcheon has had a down year, they could darn well decide to just ride the year out with the 3 rookies rotating in and out of the rotation and just see how it goes. But I tried to tell myself why it's a bad matchup and wound up convincing myself there's a fit.

Aroldis Chapman hit 105 last night. Apparently 2nd fastest he's thrown counting the decimal point.

QUOTE (CrimsonWeltall @ Jul 19, 2016 -> 01:43 PM) Yeah, the speech plagiarism it's a relatively small, stupid thing. It's the response that's so amusing. Any other campaign would have passed the blame on some schmuck staffer and moved along. The Trump campaign is telling everyone that the thing right in front of all our faces doesn't even exist. It's like someone bumping into you on the sidewalk. You expect an "oops, sorry 'bout that", but instead it's "I never bumped into you! That's totally ludicrous! And you're a jerk for saying I did." It only takes a couple years of using writing assignments in college to have that response happen. Hell I get it for the outreach page I write for and that's totally volunteer so I have no idea why people do it for that. You'll get some who are apologetic, some who either legitimately or not suggest they didn't understand it was a problem, but then you'll get the people who deny it even when caught red handed. The latter is somewhat bizarre, but it exists.

QUOTE (harkness @ Jul 19, 2016 -> 01:30 PM) Since he became the full time closer for the Yankees.. 85% save rate. However if you look at Addison Reed he has a similar amount of blown saves as a "non closer" since we are going to now use this as some kind of differentiation. I think Reed is worse.. but my point really is more that Robertson is okay but not top tier.. and not worth that kind of money. I'd like my closer to be 90% plus (which 16 closers in MLB were last year). I do not disagree with the claim that he's overpaid. The White Sox believed they were a closer away from being a playoff team - in that situation overpaying for a closer could be an acceptable move. The problem isn't that they spent the money on him and overpaid a closer, it's the logic that went into them believing they were a closer away.

QUOTE (CrimsonWeltall @ Jul 19, 2016 -> 01:30 PM) Someone's on the rag... And again Republicans...congrats. This is your party. This is the type of people you want us to be.