southsider2k5

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Oct 1, 2014 -> 12:32 PM) True. Bernstein also said that there is no guarantee that the plan is going to work. The Cubs have been very upfront about what they are doing. The writers at the ST ask questions that have already been answered. If you are one of those people that hates the plan and the way they have gone about their business, then you shouldn't be following Kris Bryant throughout the minor leagues and cheering on all these kids. It's a contradiction. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but some people have stupid opinions. Spending money on free agents in a race to 81 wins is f***ing stupid if you are at the same time trying to infiltrate your system with young talent. Everyone else understands for the most part. The Sun Times is taking this contrarian viewpoint for whatever reason. Not sure why. To sell newspapers.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Oct 1, 2014 -> 11:42 AM) He said that Wittenmeyer made up a story out of whole cloth. Basically what it comes down to is Bernstein fully believes in Theos plan and thinks it is infallible, and he ridicules anyone that has the gall to question it. Him and Boers have been going after Wittenmeyer, Telander and Haugh pretty much every day Do this for five hours, and you have a show.

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Oct 1, 2014 -> 12:29 PM) I think Lester to Boston for 6 yrs and closer to 30 mil. Boston is supposedly his 1st choice If they were really willing to pay that, they could have had him at a fraction of that price a long time ago. Instead they insulted him with a lowball offer.

QUOTE (Andy the Clown @ Oct 1, 2014 -> 12:23 PM) No. You're totally right, dude. We should sign guys to expensive contracts who are demonstrably bad baseball players and will keep us in the doldrums for the foreseeable future. Michael Taylor is probably a better player at this point. Who said that? Quit making crap up.

QUOTE (Andy the Clown @ Oct 1, 2014 -> 11:26 AM) Butler is trash. Christ, what the hell is wrong with some of you guys? We should just trade for Mike Trout and Clayton Kershaw.

QUOTE (Pants Rowland @ Oct 1, 2014 -> 11:05 AM) This^ And I totally agree with you about the possibility of Beane disrupting the clubhouse chemistry with all of his trades. The most talented team in baseball does not always win it all. Beane took a page out of the Kenny Williams playbook this year in trying to go for broke with a bunch of big trades and the A's had a different vibe from that point on in the season. Numbers account for a lot, but they still haven't gotten to the point where they can quantify if something is human emotion or just random luck.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Oct 1, 2014 -> 10:38 AM) It was the exact opposite of the traditional Billy Beane philosophy. Honestly, I'm not sure what kind of GM Beane is at this point. seems like a guy who is trying to save his job and win NOW.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 1, 2014 -> 08:41 AM) A worthwhile question for the Braves is what do you do when it seems like the entire team takes a step back at once. Fine, BJ Upton flopped. I'll even grant you that is on the GM and player evaluation, assuming that the hitting coach had no say in that, and the GM was appropriately fired as a consequence. Jason Heyward's OPS went down 40 points last year and 30 points this year at a time when he should be approaching his prime and getting better, and injuries don't seem to be an excuse this year since he was solid in the OF. Chris Johnson fell apart, put up his worst season of his career. Maybe he's not the player he was last year but he's been an above average bat almost every year of his career. Freddie Freeman signed a big contract and his OPS dropped 50 points. Andrelton Simmons isn't there for his bat, but the drop off from his .692 OPS last year to a .617 OPS this year almost makes it difficult to put him out there for that glove. The only 2 guys in their lineup who got slightly better were Evan Gattis and Justin Upton, each by about 20 points of OPS. Basically they, within error, repeated their previous seasons. So what the heck happened? Was the entire team hurt? Was the entire team misused? Guys who are at ages when they should be getting better seemed to uniformly go the opposite way. Was there something in the water? What else do you say about that? [ignored]

QUOTE (scs787 @ Sep 30, 2014 -> 10:08 PM) Kenta? Much lower. Otani when he comes over? Probably higher. If he comes over at a young age he will get a HUGE contract. It will blow away Tanaka.

Good luck to Adam. I know his time here was quantifiablely awful, but he was always a stand up guy. He was an easy guy to pull for, because he was a good person and a great teammate. He never tried to blame anyone or anything else. He was a positive influence on a lot of the kids in the clubhouse. Hopefully the next stage of his life is good to him.

QUOTE (MAX @ Sep 30, 2014 -> 04:36 PM) I hate to agree with that statement, but I do. If there is little interest in the team unless they are winning, how can that mentality be described as anything other than bandwagon mentality? The white sox have some real passionate fans, but they also have disproportionate amount of casually interested band wagoners. I also believe that the passionate fans struggle to manage their expectations well enough to watch a young, losing team grow. Don't get me wrong, I hate it. I would love to have 40,000 a night filling up the stadium, and all of the extra payroll money and flexibility that would create to give the team more resources to operate with. But it isn't reality. The Sox fan base is what it is, and the reality of it means the Sox have to run their team in a certain way. It is the primary reason we could never do a Cubs style rebuild, but instead have to always be pushing to do improvements ASAP, otherwise they risk losing more of the fan base.

QUOTE (StRoostifer @ Sep 30, 2014 -> 04:05 PM) You think maybe it has to do with the low expectations going into the 2014 season? Everyone knew the Sox were going to suck so what was there to get fans hopes up for? The FO said they were " reshaping" which was a load s*** in itself because it is a rebuild. Fans are not stupid. You can call it fair weather since its such a neat little catch phrase and all. But the bottom line is some people choose to find better things to do and better ways to spend their money and I don't blame them. Nowhere is it written that to be a fan you must be at the games or in front of the TV watching every game. If I'm not doing anything or I have no plans, I'll check out a game but if there's something for the lady and I to get out and do, we do it. I've been a fan for over 40 years but I will not revolve my summer around the Chicago White Sox schedule either. Life and Chicago summers are too short for that nonsense. In other words, Sox fans will be back when the team wins... aka they are bandwagon fans. Call it what ever you want, I call it history. Sox fans have always been this way.

QUOTE (StRoostifer @ Sep 30, 2014 -> 03:37 PM) No, its the definition of idiocy and a cub like mentality. Just because a fan does not go to games does not make them any less of a fan. You can still be a fan by watching at home, following along on the internet, buying merchandize and most importantly knowing about the teams players and management. Why should fans spend their hard earned money to watch a sub .500 team? The FO gets in return what they put into it. Sox fans are watching games at a rate that is almost last in all of baseball. Two of the teams worse than them are on that list because their team feed doesn't get to a ton of households for contractual reasons. So Sox fans aren't going to games AND they aren't watching games.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Sep 30, 2014 -> 03:28 PM) To be honest I don't know what it would take to get him. But either he is blocked, or the Pirates pretty much need to unload Alvarez and Davis. He was moved primarily to 1B because he was blocked by their outfield. Hit 32 homers in the minors in 2013, .920 plus OPS the last 2 years, and what he has over Wilkins is he plays the outfield. I'd think he would come cheaper than Brandon Belt who some have suggested moving back to OF. Could be the Pirates plan to keep him and get rid of Alvarez and Davis to save money. Could be we don't match up with anything for them trade wise. With LF and DH available, he seems like the kind of left-handed OF power bat we could use. If the Sox were interested in picking up part of his contract, I could see Pittsburgh being a team that would take a chance on John Danks. They have had some success in taking other teams rejects with big contracts, and turning them into servicable parts, while getting some subsidies for those deals. They have been really good at hitting the reclamation heap in general.

QUOTE (StRoostifer @ Sep 30, 2014 -> 03:30 PM) Well said. I used to rip cub fans by saying the cubs could put 9 chimps on the field and the fans would still sell the place out. Now, even cub fans are sick of losing and staying home. Sox fans have shown that if the FO puts a contender on the field, they will come out and spend some money. This is nothing new. I don't buy into the bandwagon thing, not with Sox fans. This is the very definition of bandwagon fans!

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 30, 2014 -> 03:25 PM) it went unnoticed by a lot since no one cared about this team, but after returning from the Minors, Surkamp was really very effective. Over his last 15 games, struck out almost a batter an inning, held opponents to a .220 average/.553 OPS, 2.31 ERA over that stretch. Which may not be all that surprising as sometimes guys do struggle in their first real stint as a big league reliever. I'm not sure how much I can count on him next year but I don't mind at all if he's in competition for a bullpen spot, and calling him a "AAA Bust" ignores what he actually did during the latter part of the season. Ventura even mentioned him as a guy who could have a job in next years pen.

Montas and Anderson mentioned as players to watch in the AFL http://m.whitesox.mlb.com/news/article/970...to-watch-in-afl

QUOTE (raBBit @ Sep 30, 2014 -> 02:23 PM) Away from last year, this is true and it alleviates the pain from the reality that we really have s***ty fans. I hope it's me and the usual other ~20,000 when the Sox are fighting for the pennant in these coming Septembers. It isn't popular to say, but White Sox fans are some of the biggest bandwagon fans in pro sports.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 30, 2014 -> 01:35 PM) That's what I brought up before, and that's another likely scenario. But his control issues make that dicey as well. His stuff lends itself to relieving, but he needs to throw strikes more consistently. If he goes to the pen, he can narrow the number of different pitches he throws, and how often he throws them.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Sep 30, 2014 -> 01:36 PM) Tomorrow? Not until he costs us 32 games in a season, instead of only 30.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 30, 2014 -> 01:30 PM) I could see him being a minor league deal guy, in exchange for some other broken prospect. I think you will see him converted to a reliever soon.

CarGo would make sense with the big deal that Rick Hahn eluded to.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/smack...0930-story.html

jon greenberg ‏@jon_greenberg 46m46 minutes ago Theo doesn't sound too optimistic about TV money enhancing his budget before 2020.

Richard Justice ‏@richardjustice 17m17 minutes ago A's .433 (29-38) winning percentage since All-Star Break is lowest ever for a playoff team.