Balta1701

Was that actually a clear sacrifice? I.e. squared early and not bunting for a hit?

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 4, 2016 -> 01:10 PM) This whole max contract thing has certainly not created parody, owners I believe that's exactly what it has turned the league into.

QUOTE (Deadpool @ Jul 4, 2016 -> 12:59 PM) Yeah, but he didn't join a team that had JUST won a ring. The Heat had three assets when LeBron signed. This GS team was already the championship favorite with or without Durant. This is much worse than "the decision". How about I just don't like either of them?

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Jul 4, 2016 -> 11:23 AM) Brewers batted out of the order lol Junior Guerra got hit in the eye by his own jewelry while throwing a pitch.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Jul 4, 2016 -> 12:15 PM) Much worse than LeBron's decision. Well, he didn't announce it while surrounded by a group of confused children did he?

F*** I hate this sport.

I hate everyone playing for Chicago teams.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jul 3, 2016 -> 03:25 PM) Yep, came from a racist s*** bag at /pol. https://m.mic.com/articles/147711/donald-tr...ists#.xw2FPNM0U

QUOTE (JUSTgottaBELIEVE @ Jul 3, 2016 -> 02:55 PM) No doubt but at least we can definitively put the best team ever and regular season wins record to rest. If I were a Cubs fan I would be very concerned about their performance against good teams. It's great to beat up on bad teams because that's what good teams do but they are going to need to beat very good teams to win the World Series. Any team going to the playoffs can find something to be nervous about if they want to. Why are the Cubs struggling right now? Dexter Fowler would be an all star starter and he's been out for a month. Their pitching staff couldn't keep that pace up, even if they're still a strong unit. What will the organization do about this? Well they already have brought up a couple guys including Contreras, but that's not going to replace Fowler. The plan therefore is, of course, wait until close to the deadline and see what is available that makes you darn near unbeatable. If Andrew Miller or David Robertson become available, that's a move going for the jugular of the league. Maybe they could consider a starting pitcher, but at the same time Lester isn't going to keep having "worst outing of his career" every time out (although I hope he has one next Friday because i"ll be there to cheer every run he gives up). Basically, they're a very good team that should make a deadline move or two. And is there any guarantee that they'll win the world series just because they're the best team? Of course not, but do that for a few years in a row and you darn well better win one.

QUOTE (StrykerSox @ Jul 3, 2016 -> 02:44 PM) Yeah, as much as people like to act like Q is a victim of poor run support, in the last couple of starts he's been a victim of not being very good. In the last five starts, he only has two quality starts (two of those starts were disasters, where he gave up more runs than IP). Out of 16 starts this season, he has 7 high quality starts (at least 7 IP, no more than 3 ER). By comparison, Chris Sale has 12 high quality starts and only one disaster start. If Jose Quintana wants to start winning ball games, he needs to start pitching better. Dude is certainly not an ace. He isn't an ace, but a guy with an ERA in the low 3's and 200 innings every year is a solid #2 or great #3. You can certainly win with guys like Jose Quintana if you have a decent roster around them. He'd fit in just fine with anyone on Cleveland's rotation and theirs is the best in the division.

QUOTE (JUSTgottaBELIEVE @ Jul 3, 2016 -> 02:46 PM) http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/face-it...-been-mediocre/ "You're never as good as you look when you're playing your best and you're never as bad as you look when you're playing your worst".

Well, the offense will officially need to score a run.

Shortest start of Lester's career, more runs than he gave up the entire month of June.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 3, 2016 -> 07:49 AM) Meanwhile, the Sox are only a couple of games over .500 AT HOME. Royals have that crazy split, 10 games under .500 on the road and 16 games over at Kauffman. The other thing to take into consideration is just how bad CLE attendance has been....30th in the majors. Just wait until they start getting 25-30,000 more consistently, they'll be even harder to beat. Even when they've been at the bottom in attendance, they've really had an exceptional home record for most of the past 3-4 years. They get DET and NYY at home before the All-Star break. Their crowds, with CLE just having won the NBA, will really pick up in anticipation of an extended playoff and maybe World Series run. So you're projecting how many world series wins in a row for them?

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 3, 2016 -> 09:36 AM) Didn't realize Moore signed elsewhere for a reasonable deal. Bulls moving every enjoyable piece of their franchise. Financial champions. I know, they were one E'twaun Moore away from being true champions.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 1, 2016 -> 06:12 PM) NBA is going to have a lockout, I can't see the league being able to support these type of contract. Conley is signing a 5yr $153M deal. $30.6M/yr for Mike Conley (who I liked and who I wanted the Bulls to get). But Mike freaking Conley making $30M/yr. That is insane. I think this is much more indicative of a huge surge in revenue than anything else. If revenue is going up then that means everyone is getting rich, including the owners. The need for a lockout would come if the share of revenue the players are getting is also going up substantially, if they're still getting 55% or whatever the NBA number is, then 45% of a growing pile for the owners still keeps everyone happy.

Looks like Fister is having a much better go of things than last year. Not his best year, but pitching strong. Instantly noticing from his numbers that his walk rate is the worst of his career, that looks like the thing that's keeping him from having a great season so far.

This is the first season since divisional play began in 1969 where every division leader has a 5+ game lead.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jul 1, 2016 -> 02:44 PM) Is pence even really liked in Indiana? Are any of his potential VP candidates liked in their home state?

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jul 1, 2016 -> 07:41 AM) Lots of reporting out there that newt Gingrich is being seriously considered for vp. Oh and the guy running the vetting process is the same guy who okay'd Palin I like the Mike Pence report. They actually haven't gone out of their way to offend the gay community in this campaign yet while offending basically everyone else who isn't a straight white male, so he'd perfectly fill the role of checking that off the list.

FWIW, whoever said that when FA started we'd be looking at Lopez's deal a lot more positively, you were completely right and I apologize for doubting you.

QUOTE (ChiSox59 @ Jun 29, 2016 -> 02:06 PM) I am certainly not an expert on this and someone can probably answer with more certainty, but I am nearly positive that Abreu and Alexei were past the age cut off to be a part of the international spending restrictions. As for Viciedo, I think he was signed before the latest changes to international signings which instituted the restrictions and subsequent penalties if going over, IIRC. Same deal with Alexei, even if he was subject to the restrictions (still think he was past age cut off), it was before these new rules were enacted. Abreu did not count towards the international signing limits due to service time already incurred in Cuba, that is correct. Alexei was signed before those were implemented, but the same thing probably would have happened to him. If Viciedo had been signed for that contract after the CBA that instituted the international limits, his contract would have blown past the limits and incurred a next year penalty.

And that's literally exactly what I mean about how it's going to be hard work to deal with what we've unleashed, because either people will think it's ok and will cheer them on as "not being politically correct", or they'll deny it is a problem.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 29, 2016 -> 01:29 PM) You might not be aware of this, but a guy who launched his campaign by calling Mexican immigrants criminals and rapists, retweeted neo-nazi 'statistics' about black people, and wants to ban an entire religion from coming to this country is actually the presidential nominee for a major political party. White nationalist groups have been vocal about feeling like his campaign allows them to be more open and public about their ideology. A neo-nazi shot and stabbed one of the "remain" British MP's to death a few days before the election while shouting "Britain First!" There was a 57% spike in reported hate crimes across the UK after the vote, and that's just the reported ones not the 18 year olds on trains yelling "Go back to Africa". But then, if you roll your eyes hard enough, you either won't see that or you can convince yourself it's a good thing.