Balta1701

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Jul 15, 2016 -> 06:36 PM) What do you want him to say? Of course they're looking to improve the club. It's a matter of what other teams asking prices are. I don't know why you have a vendetta out on the Sox whether they go out and buy or sell. I was not complaining. That was not sarcasm. That is exactly what he should say. I'm Actually impressed at how well he did it. This is not sarcasm for once, just a good laugh.

QUOTE (WhiteSoxLifer @ Jul 15, 2016 -> 06:29 PM) As for possible additions from outside org, Hahn said 'we are having conversations daily looking to improve in 2016 and beyond'' https://twitter.com/CST_soxvan/status/754078023310151680 I'm impressed at how little there is in that statement. It's actually applause worthy nothingness. Totally serious, well done Rick.

TPM

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 15, 2016 -> 04:44 PM) I had a friend teaching for DOD base in Turkey that was forced to leave 2 months ago. You always wonder how much we know about stuff like this. So apparently the WSJ has been on this topic for a few months with a number of pieces and I'm now just catching up. This was from May:

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Jul 15, 2016 -> 03:57 PM) Wondering if Robertson is good to go for tonight . What did I miss?

So yeah, what are NATO's rules when there's a military coup in a NATO nation?

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 15, 2016 -> 01:28 PM) I kind of like the fact that we are going to be a nasty team. We have some pretty "tough" players. I realize it isn't the modern NBA, but lets be clear about one thing, the Warriors were really the team that changed that and its been all of two years. You can still win, other ways, and play a more physical tough game. Now you are going to need to have guys that can get to the line to do that, and both Wade and Buckets can do that. It is definitely a different style, but doesn't mean you can't win being different. I'd like to think the key to making this work in some way is Mirotic and McDermott. They're about the only guys who have a 3 point shot as a part of their game on the roster - with the other guys around them they almost shouldn't have to take a contested 3 all year.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 14, 2016 -> 10:59 PM) If the Pomeranz trade is any indication of where the trade market is at, I am good with standing pat. You seem like you're approaching a point of accepting whatever happens this season with the team as is and if they miss the playoffs making a number of moves as sellers. Is that a fair description? (to note again, that's the last thing I expect to happen)

QUOTE (oldsox @ Jul 14, 2016 -> 06:47 PM) Bosox got Pomerantz from Padres. No word on who they gave up. Bet it's less than what Hahn gave. We'll know soon. Nope.

Well, if he's anything like what he was in San Diego they just made one huge upgrade. APparently high price though.

QUOTE (ChiSox59 @ Jul 14, 2016 -> 04:03 PM) Don't get me wrong, I want the Sox to hold onto Fulmer, but when he's legitimately your only blue chip trade prospect (not including guys on the 25 man), its going to be tough to get an elite offensive player without giving him up. Now, is Blackmon elite? Not really, but he's a very, very good ballplayer. I am not endorsing a Fulmer-Blackmon swap, only stating that I don't see the Rox doing it for less. Hope I am wrong there. And there's the problem. Blackmon is useful and particularly valuable since he has more than 1 year of control, but he's not elite and if the White Sox want to make a big push for the playoffs it's hard to believe "good" does it when everyone they're competing with is in a position to add good players also.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jul 14, 2016 -> 03:37 PM) I think Balta's point merely is that Morneau might not be ready to come up. I tend to agree. I think, and arguably based on his performance, he should receive a few more at-bats in the minor leagues before being called up. I think he should come up be. I also think you shouldn't expect much from him. I don't know why checking to see if he was having a strong impact in Charlotte is such a terrible thing, because something tells me we'd be celebrating if he had 9 hits instead of 3, but apparently that's offensive.

QUOTE (ChiSox59 @ Jul 14, 2016 -> 03:23 PM) I see absolutely zero reason why the Rox would trade Blackmon for anything short of Fulmer or Anderson (obviously isn't getting traded). I doubt an Adams, Engel/May, Gurrero type package would be enough to trade a vastly underrated offensive player under control for 2.5 years. Well, for me if I'm unpacking Fulmer I want a bigger bang for my buck player. Solid, underrated, and under team control for 2.5 years is good but with the limited assets this team has to move I'd be disappointed in that return. Basically ask yourself this - does Fulmer straight up for Blackmon make this team the strongest contender for the Wild Card this year and put them in a position to make a run at Cleveland? If your answer is no, then that's not a good use of Fulmer. The multiple years of control is nice...but they'll be needing to find another pitcher to control for multiple years if they move him so that is a major downside come next offseason.

QUOTE (chisoxfan310 @ Jul 14, 2016 -> 02:54 PM) What would you be ok giving up for him? Edit: and exactly. No half ass usual measures. Well he's not a good enough performer that you'd unpack Fulmer for him, normally you might think about a guy in the ~5 range in a solid system I'd guess but none of those guys are tradeable for the Sox since they were all just drafted. Maybe you could put together some package of 2-3 guys that the Rockies like who are lower ranked?

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 14, 2016 -> 12:58 AM) Interesting that it's neck and neck. As much as I'm scared of Trump, I am intrigued by the idea of Hillary not being an automatic winner. I still think she's a lock. Too much media support to help her. The Chris Matthews of the world will make sure she's in. Prediction: There will be media members holding back tears at her inauguration and even holding back tears during Democrat convention coverage. She will get a huge boost in the ratings after the convention and her acceptance speech. It's going to be epic media commentary. That's when they hit it hard for the democratic candidate. Whereas they will scour every word in Trump's speech for errors and make fun of how he looks, and also make fun of the sports figures that speak for him and how unconventional the convention is, the reax to Hillary's acceptance speech at the Demo convention will be even more sappy than the reaction to Obama's acceptance speeches. They'll be calling it the greatest speech ever and say she showed her true personality and wax poetic about her role in history as the first women candidate. Hillary will be big on the woman angle to MAKE SURE she keeps that HUGE lead among women voters. I still don't understand why African American voters LOVE her so much considering Bill threw so many more African Americans in jail off the streets during his years. Trump stands no chance ... remember my prediction of media shedding tears or saying they are holding back tears in analyzing her acceptance speech while mocking Trump's speech. The pundits are going to say Hillary's convention speech is the one that forever turns the tide of public opinion in her favor: "She was touching in describing what it means to her personally to be the first woman president and at the same time Presidential in outlining some of her goals for her eight years. This new side of Hillary has been shown and she figures to win the Presidency in a landslide over Trump who had what was deemed a very poor performance at the Republican Convention." Just wait. It's going to be interesting to see how the media at least attempt to hide their Trump hatred during the Republican convention. Or will they even try? There's going to be a lot of mocking Trump, but when is too much snide too much? The pundits will have to mask their bias just a tad, won't they?? Cause they know what the Democratic Convention coverage is going to be: Wall to wall praise of the first female president and every word that comes out of her mouth. Hillary Clinton will never have greater acceptance numbers and a greater lead over Trump than a few days after the Democratic Convention. The landslide will be underway.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 14, 2016 -> 02:40 PM) You do realize those were his firsts ABs vs pitchers trying to get him out in about 9 months don't you? You do realize that tomorrow's game counts towards the team's standings at the end of the season, don't you?

QUOTE (ChiSox59 @ Jul 14, 2016 -> 01:18 PM) Blackmon would be pretty sweet, but he's not gonna be cheap. if they want to actually make the playoffs this year they can't afford to be cheap at the deadline.

Well, he's 3/20 in Charlotte. 3 BB, 1 3b. (Updated with last night's stats that I guess B-R doesn't have yet)

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 13, 2016 -> 04:55 PM) So essentially they doubled their playoff percentages year over year. Clearly things are better and improving. Actually, I just assumed you folks were correct when you said 15% and didn't double check that, only last year's numbers. The current White Sox playoff odds from the same calculator are 8.4%. So you're right, things are improving - from 7.9% to 8.4% chance. At this rate of improvement we'll have a better than 50/50 shot at the all star break when baseball is played by cyborgs. But those cyborgs will be truly awesome.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 13, 2016 -> 02:57 PM) Which is about 14.9 percentage points higher than they did at this time last year. The continued improvement is the whole theme that was being talked about earlier in this thread. I don't think anyone expected this team to jump from 76 to 95 wins. But they did expect to put themselves into a position where they had a chance at the playoffs, and that is what they have done. It was 7.8 % on this date last year. They were 4.5 games out of the wild card on this date in 2015 and they're 4.5 games out now.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 12, 2016 -> 07:56 PM) 15:$0.85M, 16:$2.75M, 17:$4M, 18:$6M, 19:$8.4M, 20:$9.5M club option ($1.5M buyout), 21:$10.5M club option ($1.5M buyout) Eaton's contract My bad on that one, my eyes looked at the row for Duke.

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Jul 12, 2016 -> 08:36 PM) Why? He can hit a home run and have me cheer when his investigators share the results of his intensive study into his 2002 positive steroid test that he promised us.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 12, 2016 -> 04:34 PM) Even so, when it was just a janitor, a kid here. They won't go elsewhere. The scale is so large, people talk. Was this an open secret? Were they just that well manipulated? It is mindnumbing. The janitors who caught him with a kid in 2000, per the Freeh report, did not report him and stated they did not do so because they believed their jobs would be in jeopardy if they did so and that it would have made no difference.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 12, 2016 -> 04:08 PM) I can't believe how many people ran into this and didn't do anything. Its almost as if one particular person was the most powerful person in that program in that city and that person was the one making sure no one did anything.

QUOTE (JenksIsMyHero @ Jul 12, 2016 -> 04:17 PM) So sell your soul and everything you believe in and everything you spent the last year telling the American people in order to prevent the 1% chance that Trump wins the election? How does he have any legitimacy after this? He's now supporting someone that a week ago he was blaming for a lot for the problems we have. Frankly, yes. The possibility that he could win is that hideous.