southsider2k5

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 2, 2016 -> 01:03 PM) You keep acting like they won't be doing that anyway if they miss the playoffs for the next 1-2 years while the Cubs dominate the market, as the teams are set up to do. I don't believe that this is the bottom, nor particularly close to it when it comes to attendance. Stability or even a slow ebb is better than a huge active flight. Look at your history between 1997 and 1998 and tell me again that this won't change things.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 2, 2016 -> 12:58 PM) So you agree the White Sox should be in rebuilding mode? So you agree the Sox should be drawing another 5k a night?

QUOTE (bmags @ Feb 2, 2016 -> 12:35 PM) I never stop being amazed how hard it is to read articles on sun times. Between that being Cowley, and the Sun Times, I am not even going to waste a click.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Feb 2, 2016 -> 11:59 AM) To a certain extent, this is more what Christianity is about than conservative politicians spewing hate on TV. We are supposed to be having these conversations with people close to us, but not to the point that it's repetitive and makes people not want to be around us. If your family has had this conversation with you once or twice, then they should back off and leave it at, "if you ever have any questions, we're free to talk." Also, if they are having these conversations with you, then they better damn well be setting living examples of what they are preaching. Not to the extent of being perfect, because nobody is, but if the people having conversations with you are having problems with adultery, drugs, etc., then they really ought to be getting their own lives in order before preaching to you. Big reason why Christians are widely viewed as hypocrites. Also a big reason why politicians should not base their political beliefs on their faith. It's hard for your life's decisions to hold up under that kind of scrutiny. I have had a lot of ups and downs in my life and there have been times where I made it a point NOT to discuss religion because I knew I wasn't living what I would have been preaching. If you read the new testament, one thing that jumps out at me is that Christ himself didn't pester people to convert. He went in, preached the word, and then left. No extra guilt. No chasing people around. Either you hear the holy spirit or you didn't. He even acknowledged that some would be deaf to the word of God. How do people who call themselves Christians not see this?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 2, 2016 -> 12:15 PM) Worth pointing out every time this statement comes up this season: Theo Epstein took over the Cubs in October of 2011. Since Theo Epstein took over the Cubs that franchise has won 297 games over 4 seasons. Since that same date, the Chicago White Sox have won...297 games. Ergo, we should be getting 40k a night.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 2, 2016 -> 11:59 AM) They never won it all when they were selling out. The White Sox drew less the last time they made the playoffs than the season before when they lost 90 games. Tanking for a few years would require some pretty spectacular results. I don't know why people have a problem watching Chris Sale and Jose Abreu play baseball and hope the guys around them improve enough to win. It isn't like tanking guarantees you anything either. KC and Pittsburgh were horrible for a long time. The Cubs have sucked for years. The White Sox are getting high draft picks anyway. So what is the difference other than the prospects they would get for their better players. At this point, do you really think the prospects they get for Sale will be better for the White Sox than Chris Sale? Maybe when he is a year or 2 from leaving and there is no hope for competing. This is a fanbase that still holds trading Alvarez, Hernandez and Danny Darwin at the trade deadline 3 games out, against the organization. The only reason the Cubs are where they are is because their fans supported them through their rebuild and allowed them to hand out something like half a billion in free agent contracts while they were "rebuilding".

That is The Carlos Quentin to you.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Feb 2, 2016 -> 11:13 AM) Good post. My big thing I struggle with is Snell / Niko / Dougie and collectively where they have been this year. Gar deserves a lot of blame and this situation is very difficult for a first year coach and injuries absolutely have played a factor but as I said, I'm confident this would be a better team with Thibs (than again, I'd say that about almost any team in the league cause I think Thibs is the man). McD is in a much better place than he was last year. He isn't great now, but he was lost and had no confidence last year. Snell and Niko on the other hand are clearly behind where they were last year. Niko is another one who just doesn't seem interested in working hard or running a system. He snipes from distance, and that is about it.

QUOTE (bmags @ Feb 2, 2016 -> 10:28 AM) I don't think Pau's problem is effort. He's a 7 foot, 35 year old player. He was never nimble. his reaction times and agility are just gone. A good coach could try and hide Pau, though. That's just it. I don't see any coaching. I don't see much effort most nights either, especially if we aren't playing a top team.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Feb 2, 2016 -> 10:12 AM) Out of everything this is a super weird thing to blame Hoiberg for. Pau has been lost defensively his whole career. A lot the team defends that way. The effort is way down in too many games.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Feb 2, 2016 -> 09:45 AM) I haven't been impressed with Hoiberg, but I haven't really seen the Trestman level screw ups either. I think he's a guy that inherited a team with expectations and then immediately got hit with really tough injuries. Not having Dunleavy is a huge missing component to this team. People say he's old, but he's a very smart player, a very good shooter, and a guy that moves without the ball. One of the few on the roster that does that well and that's really what this team is missing. He's also lost Noah and Rose for some games. Moore and Hinrich here and there. And now Mirotic. That's not easy. This team is probably a lost cause, but getting the 3 position solidified with Dunleavy is going to help immensely IMO, assuming he's 100%. That's all that really matters at this point. Either they reach their peak at the end of the year heading into the playoffs, or they continue to play .500 ball and bow out early. No sense in getting all worked up over it before the All-Star break. I get there has been injuries, but watch 10 seconds of Gasol playing "defense" and you can see the difference between this year and last year.

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The Bulls are just lost right now. There is some sort of a battle going on in the lockerroom that isn't very clear right now, but what it looks like from my point of view is the Bulls hired the college equal of Marc Trestman, and the lockerroom is divided between guys who are taking advantage, and the guys who want that structure of Thibs back.

QUOTE (bmags @ Feb 2, 2016 -> 09:31 AM) This is a hard one to hypothesize on, not knowing how little we give up at full value vs if they eat some cost and expect a better prospect. I also feel like the dodgers feel at all like they need to "give away" ethier for cash. Yeah the Dodgers would rather eat money and get a better player if you look at their spending habits.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Feb 1, 2016 -> 11:06 PM) I wouldn't worry about the vesting option at all. Last season Ethier had 445 PA total with 48 of those PA against lefties. If the Sox primarily bat him against RHP like the Dodgers did, there's really no chance he gets the 1100 PA. He has also been playing on a team that has 4 to 5 starting OF's, which the Sox do not.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Feb 1, 2016 -> 06:32 PM) Danish is too much for Ethier. Dodgers need to make this move. Give them LaRoach Clip. Good move for both teams. It all depends on what money they are picking up. If they were to take LaRoche, we'd probably have to send a prospect or two. If we took most of the contract it would be a different story.

QUOTE (bmags @ Feb 1, 2016 -> 05:14 PM) So, just to be clear, your contention is that if you took the best deal for Soler and Garcia they would be equal value... Soler will not get Q, but the difference between Q and DFA'ing avi garcia is a huge gap. My position is that they are almost identical players. Any GM that would overpay for Soler vs Garcia is an idiot.

QUOTE (shysocks @ Feb 1, 2016 -> 04:59 PM) Soler is making a pittance for the next five years and has put up positive WAR in his career. He is not Avi Garcia and you could not remotely trade them straight up. Garcia is under contract for cheaper than Soler for both 2015 and 2016. And while it seems crazy, Garcia only has about a season's more AB's than Soler, and is only a year older. Soler had a negative WAR and dWAR this year, just like Garcia did. In fact if you project out Soler's WAR and dWAR to Garcia's number of PA's they are almost identical.

QUOTE (bmags @ Feb 1, 2016 -> 04:48 PM) And yet I'd love to see the return if Soler was traded vs. Garcia. It is not a question who is more valuable at this point, and all he cost was a relatively small sum. I am not sure that is honestly true. Soler would have been traded already if his value was actually that high.

QUOTE (bmags @ Feb 1, 2016 -> 04:40 PM) Kills me we couldn't sign Soler (I don't know this counterfactual and whether it influenced us getting Abreu). We were just bidding $70 mill plus for aging talent when the potential, cheap bat of Soler will allow a great package of return or he develops. We have Soler, his name is Avi Garcia.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 1, 2016 -> 04:10 PM) They are related, but his command isn't just a health thing. He gets gun-happy, and I think part of the problem is in his head. He's had more innings than a lot of relievers going to the majors, though not starters. I don't doubt that. But the way to overcome that sort of stuff is reps. You don't get reps on the DL.

greg's nightmare for Lawrence, Kansas. https://twitter.com/WORLDSTARC0MEDY/status/...235074691076096

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 1, 2016 -> 03:40 PM) I think that's second. First is command, which he still lacks severely. His command is going to come from being healthy and getting regular reps. Because of his health his career highs are 111 and 112 IP. That puts him further behind than he could have been.

QUOTE (knightni @ Feb 1, 2016 -> 03:39 PM) What about Beck and Fry? That seems like decent amount. Why would the Cubs be interested in C level prospects? They want front line pitching?

QUOTE (knightni @ Feb 1, 2016 -> 03:36 PM) How much would the Cubs want for Soler? They had been offering him for star pitching last I knew.