balfanman

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jan 15, 2013 -> 12:53 PM) Fisk & LaRussa could have an endurance road race. First one to fall asleep loses! Dybzinski, if he's brave enough to show up around these parts yet, could leave early but he'd probably get caught.

No Caleb Haney love?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 14, 2013 -> 08:16 AM) There are very few examples of being successful in a full rebuild anyway. Most franchises just enter a cycle of repeated rebuilds and decimate their fan base. Yeah, that's what I thought. That's why when people make comments that something can't be done because they're just getting started in their position, in this case G.M., and they've never done it before strike me as being silly. It's like saying that Robin Ventura can't win a world series as a manager because he's never done it before.

QUOTE (RadioHost @ Jan 10, 2013 -> 04:54 PM) Let me give me 2 cents on rebuilding. It can work, with the right executives in place. Just because you have a bunch of top 10 picks doesn't mean you will win a few years down the road. There are several players that the Sox have had a shot at in the draft, (Mike Trout for one) and passed that have turned out to become great young talents at the big league level. Some have been for a while. Some, but less than you might think star level talent or good players did the Sox not have a shot to draft or have a chance to sign from their homeland. The level of talent evaluation is HUGE when you talk about a rebuild. Do the Sox have that? I don't know. You have to have great scouts as well. I think that 2014 could be like '09 in some ways. How many top draft picks have been busts? Probably a lot. Didn't we have an ace that was drafted in the 36th or 38th round? The part that I don't get about when fans talk about a rebuild in any sport (besides the NBA) is that you have to be horrible. In any sports there are great players taken in the lower rounds all the time. The psychological factor of this sport is huge as you move up the rankings, and many guys who have great physical tools can't cut it in that realm. Scouting that is very difficult, and sometimes near impossible. The one problem I have with rebuilding is that we have a GM in charge who has never done it. If we have a phasing out of the vets after 2013 fine (which is what is likely to happen IMO) and then retool in 2014. Scouting in baseball for amateur players is difficult just because you don't know how they will respond to the advanced level of play both physically and psychologically. Plus players are playing against others that are older than them for the first time, and others that are just as talented if not more. Realistically though, how many G.M's who have rebuilt teams SUCCESSFULLY are available to rebuild ours. It would require at least a little bit of luck with draft choices as you've mentioned the diffuculty of accurately scouting amatuer players and I would think that most everyone of them who has done it, it was their first time.

QUOTE (whitesox901 @ Jan 10, 2013 -> 01:31 PM) Yeah, the Sox don't go to the playoffs every year, but under Jerry and Eddie the Sox have been competitive most years, or at least projected to compete, especially over the last 10-12 years. Well.... except for 2005

Personally, and maybe it's more sentiment than smarts, I'd much prefer that Dunn have a good year so that they can deal him. I'd like to have Pauly around as long as he can still swing the bat as our dh and I think that he would be a great example for the younger players. We'd have to find left handed power somewhere but while I don't hate him, I'd rather have a better all around hitter than Dunn.

In reality, I'm just trying to kill time on a slow day at work and nothing happening with the Sox. I noticed this quote from our friend PTATC in the NFL thread talking about RGIII injury. Interestingly enough the first real high profile athlete this was done with was Ozzie Guillen after he had that collision with Tim Raines. Up until that point it was common place to do the surgery as soon as possible. It was the case that brought the idea to mainstream sports medicine. Just got me to thinking, could the reason Tim Raines left the orginization be due to Guillen still holding a grudge on this? Anybody know for sure?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 4, 2013 -> 08:07 AM) KW Jr. got over a half a million in signing bonus. Nepotism is a beautiful thing if you are the one getting taken care of. That just p****s me off when I think of all of the better prospects that they passed over because of money.

QUOTE (flavum @ Jan 3, 2013 -> 11:26 AM) I popped in the final game at Comiskey Park over the weekend, and it was interesting to see the White Sox players-- Fisk- future Hall of Famer Thomas- rookie- future Hall of Famer Sosa- traded to the Cubs a year later, steroids allowed him to hit over 600 HR Guillen- future Sox manager. 15 years later, won the World Series Ventura- rookie, future Sox manager Calderon- murdered Fletcher- Sox 2B, daughter would later marry Sox future 2B who was 4 when this game was played Johnson- One Dog one of a few to play for Sox, Cubs, Yankees and Mets McDowell- future Cy Young winner The Mariners also had a young Ken Griffey Jr, his dad, and Omar Vizquel who could be the last active player to play in Comiskey Park. The final out was Harold Reynolds who is still around at MLB Network. My first thought was "Wow, that's pretty impressive". Then I realized that only 2 of those names (1 only for a few games) were involved in a White Sox world series winner.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jan 2, 2013 -> 10:36 AM) Looks like that Santos trade might not work for either side. It seems to me that both G.M's knew what they were doing in that deal. Both sides taking a gamble on players that all parties involved were aware of both ability and injury issues. Each side thought that the player they were getting was less of a risk than the one they were trading, but a risk none the less. In this case it has not yet worked out positively for either side. Although G.M's can appear pretty stupid at times, especially with free agent contracts, most have at least some semblance of a brain or they would not have the position they are in. It's all about taking a calculated gamble. Some are more of a gambler than others.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Dec 31, 2012 -> 03:33 PM) Im not missing the point, The bosses arent the ones making the hire this time. I will go out on a limb and say the Bears are one of the first to make a HC hire. I would not be suprised that Emery made the decision at least several weeks ago to let Lovie go and has a pretty good idea right now who he wants to bring in.

QUOTE (bmags @ Dec 31, 2012 -> 01:53 PM) I think Cutler's accuracy was phenomenal this year. The unfortunate part is the bears did not run plays designed to get people open. There was no thought process that "oh if we drag this receiver here, this should open it up underneath", etc. Jay was completing passes to ridiculously covered receivers over and over again. The one player usually wide open was Davis, who would drop the ball. That's good to hear. I mostly listen to the Bear games on radio where it seemed like Joniak and Thayar were constantly saying that the balls were poorly thrown.

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Dec 31, 2012 -> 01:39 PM) He went 10-6 this year. How many more wins should the Bears had this year given all the problems on the offensive side and all the injuries all over the team? Last year, your star QB went down when the team was riding high. Their backup QBs couldn't do much because they had no offensive line to protect them, just like Campbell this year. The one constant has been the lack of addressing the offensive line. No matter what type of league you play in, no matter how the game changes, you still win the battle on the offensive and defensive lines, period. Cutler has almost been killed I don't have strong feelings either way on Lovie and have no idea exactly what he was responsible for other than that in professional sports, "if you don't win you're gone". I do wonder though, how much of Cutlers brain is left intact after the last few seasons. His ability to hit a target seemed to get worse and worse this year. Anyone think that all of the concussions have affected him to the point that he isn't a very good quarterback anymore? Maybe, if he could, Emery would be wise to try and trade Cutler and really start over.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Dec 31, 2012 -> 10:22 AM) Good DC, not the best head coach. Lot of lockeroom issues in Carolina. Bad coaching decisions. I will give him credit for one thing, team played hard, but team also lost a ton of close games. A ton of them. They made a lot of stupid mistakes in those games and that comes down to coaching. Thanks Chisoxfn, I did not know that they had "locker room issues". I do remember his days as a host on "the Score" and he came across as very knowledgeable to me, but whatever, just a thought.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Dec 31, 2012 -> 10:02 AM) Hiring Rivera as the head coach would be brutal. I really don't know that much about his coaching abilities although he seemed to have started to turn Carolina around the last half of the season. I definitely do not claim to be any kind of a football expert (just follow it casually), but why do you, and others apparently, think that he would be brutal? Has he majorly screwed up in the past?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 30, 2012 -> 07:26 PM) The Bears have never hired a head coach with previous NFL head coaching experience. If Lovie goes, there is a decent chance Wanne II is hired. At least Bears fans will be happy until September. Aren't there a lot of head coaches who find success with their 2nd coaching gig? I realize that the Bears don't hire head coaches with previous coaching experience, but maybe Emery can break that pattern if the price is right. If Rivera is let go in Carolina I would love to see him back with the Bears. He has not had big success yet and I would think that he would be a good candidate to blossom into a great coach. I don't believe that he would be that expensive yet either. Does anyone know if he burned any bridges (other than with Lovie) when he was let go before?

Does everyone realize that the last time that we changed starting catchers we won a world series? I'm not sayin, I'm just sayin.

QUOTE (rippedsounds @ Dec 27, 2012 -> 08:34 AM) I've got mixed feelings about Youk leaving. First and foremost I'm originally from Boston and I'm tired of seeing veteran Red Sox heroes landing in NY for the last few years of their career with overpaid contracts. It just feels like greedy baseball and emphasizes how much of a business the sport is. In interviews all of these players would say how much they hate the Yankees and how they would all pull together against them but then many of them would run over to Yankee stadium when they wanted money. Feels like Mr. Potter in "It's A Wonderful Life". While I can appreciate the sentiment, it strikes me as odd coming from a Red Sox fan. Boston has done there share of offering big money contracts to lure players from the smaller market teams and the Red Sox are hated by other teams almost as much as the Yank$$s are. Boston is absolutely the wrong team to compare to Potter / Bailey.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Dec 19, 2012 -> 03:26 PM) What's with the Astros taking all these s***ty ex-White Sox pitchers? Because they learned about 7 years ago, in a very painful way, that the Sox know how to develope good pitching!

QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Dec 17, 2012 -> 12:05 PM) No your question was who would you like to reach their fullest potential. Danks fullest potential is not a perennial all star. It's a matter of semantics. I would say that when Danks was drafted that some scouts thought that an All Star would be his fullest potential. I think that it's just been his years in the minor leagues that have tempered expectations. No disagreemant and we're cool. I was just really looking for someone, if you could only have one, that you would like to see "explode on the scene" so to speak.

QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Dec 17, 2012 -> 11:22 AM) I gotta go Beckham. Viciedo's up there too, but I think he has a better shot of realizing his potential then Beckham. I don't think anybody really expected Jordan Danks to become a big star, so I haven't been upset with his development. That's great and all, but the question is not who is most likely, it's who would you like. The answer doesn't have to be based totally on realism, although it would help if it was somewhat realistic. Having someone hit 500 with 80 homeruns annually would be nice, but not realistic.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Dec 17, 2012 -> 09:05 AM) Can't imagine the answer being anyone other than Gordon Beckham. I thought hard about Gordon Beckham as he is an obvious choice here. If he could of kept going from his first season what a player we would've had. He would of been an elite number 3 hitter that we're still looking for. Most likely, with my personality (I hate going with the crowd), I knew others would select Beckham so I went with someone a little less obvious.

Well, there doesn't seem to be any actual Sox news being made at the moment and I'm hopeful that somehow Mr. Hahn will give us a big time Christmas present, until then I'm just trying to satisfy my boredom at work. So......... If you could have Santa grant your wish for any current player in the Sox organization to suddenly realize their fullest potential and become a perrenial All - Star in 2013 who would that be. I'll choose Jordan Danks. I'd love for his great defense to be a staple in the Sox lineup for many years. If he could man centerfield and be a 280 - 300 avg. hitter with some power and speed it would allow the team to trade one of their other outfielders for help elsewhere on the diamond. I could get into say a DeAza - lf, Danks - cf, and Viciedo or Rios - rf.

QUOTE (Lamar Johnson 23 @ Dec 13, 2012 -> 11:05 AM) Here's another random thought I've had. Assuming the Rangers do not re-sign Josh Hamilton, they'll have a gaping hole in their lineup/outfield. Wouldn't they be a good trade partner for the Sox? They have an abundance of good young IFs, we can send them one of our starting OFs and Floyd and/or Thornton. Thoughts? Or, since the Red Sox JUST signed Shane Victorino, the Sox could (should) make a move for Elsbury, even though he'll be a FA after the 2013 season. Don't mean to shut down conversation here, but both of these scenarios have been talked about quite a bit on Soxtalk.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Dec 10, 2012 -> 11:03 PM) They could have also just as easily guaranteed him both the most money and/or playing time out of any of his destinations. Beckham doesn't have a lot of value right now and I don't think there's any real point in deal him. Hell, if nothing else, Keppinger might be a guy that Beckham picks up a few things from with regards to making good, solid contact. I really like that thought and hope that it comes to fruition.