southsider2k5

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ Feb 6, 2016 -> 01:50 PM) Wrong again. Quite wrong, actually. Name one other stadium that is as architecturally flawed as was the new Comiskey Park where they built an upper deck with the same obnoxious incline AND complicated matters by putting the opening to that deck down at the base, vs. somewhere in the middle. Talk about discrimination. One might infer they didn't want any elderly and/or obese people sitting in the upper rows given how difficult it would be to get up there, and never mind any up and down trips needed to go the bathroom, etc. Reinsdorf admits he screwed up big time on that upper deck, which would explain why he ended up lopping off about nine rows back in the early 2000s. Has that been standard, too, Dick Allen? Has any other team gone in and taken a buzz saw to their upper deck and literally taken out a third of it? No? Yeah, didn't think so. Hence, the rather wrong nature of you claiming the new Comiskey/USCF upper deck is somewhat par for the course. QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ Feb 6, 2016 -> 02:47 PM) LMAO! Who's talking about Reinsdorf? I thought we were talking about the USCF upper deck, whose construction you tried to somehow pass off as "standard"? If you have nothing else to say on the matter, then just don't say anything. It's really that easy. As for Mr. Reinsdorf, since you brought him up yet again, the only thing "unhealthy" is the effect he's had on the White Sox organization throughout his tenure as owner. You know it, I know it. As the Cubs benefitted by getting out from under the long term yet highly ineffective ownership of the Tribune Co. a few years ago, so will the White Sox come the post-Reinsdorf era, whenever that is. Um, you did... in your very previous post.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Feb 5, 2016 -> 06:57 PM) But there are almost always shades of grey...which would you penalize of those six NL teams? The Brewers, Reds, Rockies, Padres, Braves and Phillies? What about the Marlins when they fired Guillen and traded half their expensive new acquisitions to Toronto? The Cubs, Astros, Twins and Mets should be penalized as well when their efforts were largely successful? Let's not forget the Red Sox in last place 3/4 years, the Padres, the Mariners, etc. I imagine most here could never come close to an agreement...and, for as many fans who are discouraged by games against no-name lesser competition, just as many love it when the White Sox beat up on teams and put up huge offensive numbers in those games. Only if you needlessly try to complicate things.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Feb 6, 2016 -> 01:22 AM) http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/14724005...angeles-dodgers Puig finally turning over a new leaf? How come when it is about players on other teams we don't get 20 posts about these being fluff pieces?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 5, 2016 -> 08:29 PM) But why would Jerry Reinsdorf be the bad guy? Wouldn't the elected officials that are supposed to have your best interests in mind be the one's at fault? It isn't a good deal for the taxpayers. The argument is it is a hotel tax so out of towers are really picking up the tab, but still it is money that could be used elsewhere. they were able to make renovations at no cost to the taxpayers other than those pissed off about a name change. It is the exact same thing that about 100 other sports teams have done over that time frame. But its Jerry, so he is evil. Literally every single other professional sports team in the city of Chicago has gotten a taxpayer funded stadium or stadium improvements. Hell in the last month 3 football teams tried to leave their towns because they didn't get what they wanted.

QUOTE (AustinIllini @ Feb 5, 2016 -> 06:24 PM) Wait- US Cellular doesn't even serve Chicago? What the? But anyway, those mid 2000s renovations saved the place. It feels like home to me when I get the fortune of going there. They dropped off of the market a few years back.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Feb 5, 2016 -> 05:48 PM) Thanks for the info I'm glad they stayed in the city. Some very fond memories of road trips down from N. MI with my dad "we're doing it without stopping to piss son" to New Comiskey. As a kid, having the stadium right in the middle of what felt like the busiest, coolest place in the world was neat. Looking back in retrospect, the cool thing would have been to put a stadium in the south loop with the open air outfield and a skyline view. Maybe next time with retrospect in mind it will happen. I always had the impression that part of the sweetheart deal they got (which paid for the stadium) was a big part of the reason they stayed at 35th and Shields.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Feb 5, 2016 -> 04:54 PM) For sure, the timing was poor and it's hard to knock Chicago for going with a rather bland design when at that point it's just what you did. At least they kept the park in the City and didn't move it to the burbs. I don't know much about the history of it, was only a young kid when the Cell opened, was there talk of moving out of the south side? There were a few different things talked about at times. The dome in Tampa was built with the hope of luring the White Sox. The team bought land in Addison and thought about that for a while. Those were the two real things I remember being talked about during that stretch. Further back in history there were times where they almost moved to Milwaukee and Seattle IIRC.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Feb 5, 2016 -> 09:50 AM) But who determines which teams aren't competitive enough? What if their spending/trading is clearly inefficient but not evidence of deliberate sabotage? For example, the Mariners, Padres or White Sox in the last couple of seasons. The Twins were over .500 but hardly spent a dime this offseason...or the Yankees. The Marlins? They would counter with Stanton and Wei Yin Chen. Can you blame the A's because ownership erred in letting SF take the territorial rights to San Jose? What should or could the Reds or Brewers realistically do in the face of three superteams in their own division? Can you force the Phillies to spend FA money a year or two earlier because of their new media rights deal payments already kicking in? You can't tell the difference between being intentionally bad, and being bad? If you are going to be intentionally bad, why should the rest of baseball have to subsidize you while you wait half a decade, or more, to maybe be good again?

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Feb 5, 2016 -> 03:14 PM) I usually defend the Cell but the only park built around the same time that it can beat is Comerica. I cannot stand Comerica's sight lines. The Cell is just about as "cookie cutter" of a design as you can use for a ballpark. It reminds me some of Safeco except that Safeco pretty much did everything better including a removable roof, less steep upper deck, and city views from the upper concourses. If you're gonna do "cookie cutter" design, Safeco is how you do it. Only two parks were built between 1974 and 1991, which were the SkyDome and Tropicana in Tampa. New Comiskey was literally the first open air ballpark built in the US since Kaufman Stadium in 1973. While they could have done more, literally every ballpark that came after that, which is over 20, took from their mistakes and learned from them. The Sox didn't have that luxury.

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Feb 5, 2016 -> 12:52 PM) From Jeff Sullivan's chat today: There haven't been reports linking the Sox to Desmond but I have to imagine we're talking to him too. Desmond would have to come really cheaply for them to be able to afford both.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Feb 5, 2016 -> 04:10 PM) Scoring in overtime isn't really impressive given they've turned the period into a joke. Easy or not, he is still leading the NHL in doing it. That is always impressive.

Apparently the Knicks also seem to be a possibility. http://www.forbes.com/sites/mitchlawrence/...n/#77d586517937

QUOTE (fathom @ Feb 5, 2016 -> 12:44 PM) Self-imposed tourney ban for Louisville. The fact father and son will both have jobs after this season is ridiculous. Is this over the prostitutes thing, or something else?

Eric Lear ‏@BHTVeric 55m55 minutes ago Per @EliasSports, Artemi Panarin is the 4th-fastest active player to reach 50 career points, trailing only Ovechkin, Malkin and Crosby.

Yeah, so much for Blake not being available. Mitch Lawrence ‏@Mitch_Lawrence 5m5 minutes ago The Clippers have talked to the Nuggets about trading Blake Griffin to Denver, per NBA sources.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Feb 5, 2016 -> 12:14 PM) There's no way he gets a job next year right? Someone will give him a shot at a job.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Feb 5, 2016 -> 10:31 AM) No doubt. If the cubs would have even thought of trading either, cub fans would have fudged their Huggies! A cub fan I worked with a few years ago was always talking about Soler, Baez, Almora and Bryant. That was the mantra for years.

Adam Schefter ‏@AdamSchefter 33m33 minutes ago Johnny Manziel's dad, Paul, told Dallas Morning News, "I truly believe if they can't get him help, he won't live to see his 24th birthday."

QUOTE (shipps @ Feb 5, 2016 -> 10:17 AM) Was the title just recently changed to Sox or Cubs for Fowler? When has it been reported that it is down to two teams? Did I miss something? It wasn't changed. It was reported in the first post of this thread, I want to say about week ago or so.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Feb 5, 2016 -> 10:10 AM) It's possible their markets have collapsed already. If Baez was all that, then why sign Zobrist? I'm thinking teams have wondered the same thing. IMO, as for Soler, the cubs were stung badly by the Miller trade. Before AZ jumped into the mix, there was alot of buzz going on about a potential deal centered around Miller for Soler+. Once AZ put Inciarte on the table it was over for the cubs. The cubs can still put Soler in LF with Schwarber so its not the worst situation but Cophlan really should be the guy they trade, which is probably doubtful this late in the off season. I think to some extent they have definately saw their markets decline. I think two years ago they could have been moved as centerpieces. Now? Nope.

QUOTE (bmags @ Feb 5, 2016 -> 09:20 AM) If the left wing of the democratic party actually cared about issues enough to vote during midterms more than sharing articles on social media they could probably have accomplished more. Hillary's campaign is so much better this time, she's a better candidate than 08. She's smart and she doesn't pull any punches. Something I didn't care for in 08 but see a lot of appeal in now. You know why Clinton has such a murky record? She has actually been in the policy fights of the last 20 years and having to be part of the decisions of watering down or strengthening bills that affected people. Meanwhile Sanders was in his safe lillywhite seat in Vermont sniping. Caucusing with the democrats and never getting an elite chair in the senate. But yeah, I'm sure as president his debate skillz will convince the country to vote in a wave of candidates and create a liberal dream gov't. I'm convinced. I don't see it that way at all. In fact I think it is the opposite. Team Clinton has been reacting to those debates and following the political winds and not pushing those winds. They have watered down things because the polls told them it was prudent to do so, not because they were compromising for the greater good. They have always moved to a political position, and not down from it because it wasn't fully popular.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Feb 5, 2016 -> 09:42 AM) What do you mean the middle is the most likely scenario? I thought if it went to arbitration they have to either go with the player's ask or the team's ask. If so, we're talking about a $5M to $6M gap, which is a sizable chunk of change. I really don't think the Cubs have enough money to add a guy like Fowler unless they win the arbitration hearing and even then I think it's a stretch financially. The expectation is that they settle somewhere in the middle before the hearing.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Feb 5, 2016 -> 09:36 AM) Soler isn't the guy the cubs need to trade, its Coghlan. We all know that Soler is horrible in RF so a Fowler signing gives the cubs a switch hitter in CF, Heyward's LHB in RF and Soler's RHB platooing LF with Schwarber's LHB. Coghlan and his LHB should be the odd man out. Now, finding a trade for Cophlan is another story. Imo, the cubs are waiting to see what happens with Arrieta and hoping Fowler will sign a one year deal while advocating to him the benefits of re-entering FA next year in a thinner talent pool of outfielders. Just a guess on my part. If you look at who the Cubs are trying to sell on, I think they realize that both Baez and Soler are more hype than substance and they are trying to sell on them as quick as possible before their market collapses.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Feb 5, 2016 -> 08:50 AM) I just hate the word tanking. There are 4 teams "rebuilding". People act like it's half the league or something. Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Philly, and Atlanta. They are doing what they need to do though. The only way that Cincy and Milwaukee can compete with Cubs, Cards, Pirates is if they bottom out and trade veterans for prospects, spend internationally, and draft well. The same goes for Philadelphia and Atlanta. San Diego and Colorado should be taking the same approach. I don't believe that the rest of MLB should have to subsidize teams who are intentionally bad.

They also signed Aardsma to deal