Jack Parkman

This is literally the first thing that went through my head. If that is the case, I doubt he'd get much of a return in relation to a player of his caliber because he'd have trouble passing a physical, as crazy as that sounds.

@Dick Allen This is the issue with regard to Free Agency: Machado and Harper probably aren't signing until mid-late January at the earliest. if they wait on other targets, they could end up grabbing one of those guys, but nobody else, or missing out on them entirely because they didn't spend enough to make themselves competitive in the process. They can't afford to wait. They have to act now, and spend the money they want to now, and *hope* that Machado or Harper sign with them. Between MM/BH it is probably going to be a huge game of chicken with both not wanting to sign until the other does. It wouldn't shock me if neither signs until right after Super Bowl Sunday, about a week and a half before spring training. They can't afford getting left in the dust with other guys, to be honest they have to proceed like neither are FA. This is where it gets tricky. If you want the Sox' FA decisions to bank on getting BH/MM, then you want them to get neither and sit out FA. It isn't going to happen, that way, as it isn't how the market works. If the Sox are going to land BH/MM, they're really going to have to break the bank this offseason.

I accidentally voted 21-30% for Harper when I meant 0-10%. Don't know how I made that mistake

Bob is also KW's mouthpiece so maybe they're trying to keep things as under the radar as they can.

No doubt.

Could you Imagine if JR decided to become Mike Illitch all of the sudden? He is 82 so I guess at some point he has to realize he can't take his money with him. He knows the Bulls will stay in the family as the family goldmine, and the Sox are going to be sold, so why not make the most of the time he has left?

Anyway #34 is for pitchers with arm issues in this town. Need to change the mojo.

They'd move Andujar to 1B/DH

I'd buy Kyle Seager.

For where he was drafting, absolutely. It is really hard to get a 1st line player outside of the top 15 of the draft. Schmaltz put up 52 points last year, so I think it is pretty established he's an up and coming player. Hartman was drafted with the last pick in the 1st round. It is more than reasonable to expect nothing more than a 3rd liner out of a bottom 10 pick. It is unreasonable to expect a top 6 F or top 2 D out of every 1st round pick. I'm staying out of this thread until the dust settles a bit from this. The amount of hate for Stan is ludicrous. I stand by my belief that this is Q's roster, and don't be shocked if Kunitz and Manning are waived/released by the end of January, and Martinsen is in the Rock where he belongs ASAP. If those three players remain on the roster for the entirety of the season, I'll eat crow.

Rabbit, I'm not a huge fan of the Clintons either, and it really pained me to push the button for Hillary. It was made an easier decision when I see Trump as a threat to democracy. I know you might disagree, but the last 4 elections have been the epitome of the Douche and Turd episode from South Park. There have been very few candidates I can get behind at all. When it comes to economics, I strongly suggest Robert Reich's documentary Saving Capitalism. Even if you aren't a liberal, I suggest watching it. It is not as partisan as you'd think. I do watch programs that are more right-leaning from time to time just to get an idea where other people are coming from. From Stephen Covey's book: Seek first to understand, then to be understood.

There used to be a few things that were generally agreed on by both conservatives and liberals: Unions, Social Security, and anti-monopoly measures. The Italian Mob ruined Unions, but they don't exist anymore. The right wing nutjobs are going after Social Security, and that is BS. The libertarians and religious fundamentalists have hijacked the GOP over the last 40 years. I can understand curbing taxes, I can understand business having a seat at the table. All of those things are ok. They have lost touch with reality and have been winning elections solely on fear mongering. Break up the huge corporations and banks for pete's sake. It is way overdue. The last one to happen was AT&T in the 70s. I think there is a happy middle ground between investing in your own retirement and state pensions: There is a minimum amount we all pay into Social Security from our Payroll taxes OK, you can choose to invest in the market, or you can pay into Social Security. The return would be less than investing, but at the end of the day, a worker ends up with a pension-style retirement of a percentage of your last 5 years income. That is the safe route. It requires paying 5, 10 or 15% of your yearly income. The number of years you pay a certain percentatge affects your check in retirement. If you believe in your own investment ability, you could pay what you pay now, still get that amount but invest in the market. There is a huge potential for higher gains, but there is also a potential for huge losses. It would be interesting to see which would win out over time. All I have to say is, remember the national motto, which translates to: Out of many, one. The US has always welcomed people from anywhere, and it makes me sick the amount of hate going around, and that politicians are channeling that hate for political gain.

I wish I could give my truthful opinion, but I can't because the Filibuster is gone. What is shocking to me is the amount of people that have no empathy or compassion for their fellow human beings. This is what I think is the most telling sign of political affiliation. Individualism and selfishness vs. collectivism and compassion. There should be a healthy balance. There isn't anymore, and we keep getting more and more polarized in response to pushing more and more boundaries.

@soxfan49 To answer your question, I think Kunitz, Ward, and Manning were guys that Q went to bat for and Stan signed them to let Q hang himself. I do not think any of the three, with the possible exception of Ward, would be with the Hawks if it was up to Stan. Over the years, it has become obvious who the Q guys and Stan guys are. Kunitz and Manning have Q's name stamped on their asses. I am convinced that Stan has deferred to Q and was the GM in name only since the Daley fiasco. I put the majority of the personnel decisions, starting with the Daley-Scuderi trade on Q. I think that is the reason why Stan has a reasonable amount of job security, and Q is gone. I believe this roster is on Q, not Stan. I think Stan gave Q carte blanche on NHL roster decisions and let him hang himself. With regard to "besides Debrincat, who else did you like over the last 5 years?" Nick Schmaltz and Forsling to name a few. I really liked Danault too, but Q wouldn't play him over Kruger when it was obvious who was better. Gee, he's having success as a 3rd liner in MTL. I liked Marko Dano too, but he got squeezed out in WPG, and Q never put him with talented enough players here. TT was always in Q's doghouse. Danault and TT are better away from the Hawks than they would have been here. I don't blame Stan for Kruger's contract. I believe that if Stan had his way, Kruger would have walked after 2015 and been replaced by Danault. Obviously, this is all speculation but that is my belief. I laugh at the idea that Bowman has sucked at drafting. That is the most preposterous thing I have heard. They didn't have a 1st or 2nd in 2015, and the 2/3 2nds they had in 2016 were from Shaw. Their two high 2nds were DeBrincat and Kayumov, who is a decent prospect. Out of the 7 first round picks that Stan has made from 2010-2017, exactly 1 is not in the NHL currently, and all others are at the very least 3rd liners. Jury is still out on Boqvist and Beaudin, but I really like them. TT and Jokiharju are really good for where they were drafted. Most NHLers are 1st or 2nd round picks. Name me another GM with a better track record of drafting. Not to mention 2nd round gems like Saad and DeBrincat, and he got Shaw in the 5th round who was an integral part of the 2 later cup teams. You don't expect 3rd-7th round picks to become anything. The percentage is very low. When you get one it is a huge bonus. Nobody knows how Bickell would have played had he not come down with MS. He absolutely could have been a 20-20 or 25-20 player playing with Toews and Hossa. Do you forget how much of a beast he was in the 2013 playoffs? We'll never know. Blame the team medical staff for losing TT, not Stan. Even so, I doubt TT would be this good here. He found himself in Q's shithouse constantly. The fact that Q tanked Daley's value, Stan traded him for Scuderi, and Q played Scuderi the remainder of his time here is an indictment on Q's coaching ability. I blame that barrage of moves 100% on Q. I'd bet Scuderi was a Q request. Q is an idiot. Yes, Kempny is a #4 defenseman but he was something the Hawks needed at the time. It came out last year that Q healthy scratched Murphy for the sole reason that Hjalmarsson wasn't here. That sounds like a toddler throwing a temper tantrum because he lost his blanket. I believe much more in Stan's vision in roster construction than Q's. The power struggle existed, no matter the public denial, and the power struggle on personnel is what tanked the team. I believe over the last few years, that Stan has deferred to Q so he could let him hang himself, and that is exactly what Q did. Someone is going to be right and someone is going to be wrong over the next few years. If I'm wrong, I'll own it. I expect Stan to come out looking a lot better in a year or two after it all comes out that this was all a Q power play. Stan might have been the GM in name, but I think it was Q calling the shots since the Daley fiasco. I think the team will be in a much better place by the end of next year. I'm not going to argue this anymore. I strongly disagree with most of your points. We'll have to agree to disagree.

The fact that Forsling, Dylan Sikura, and Ejdsell are in Rockford and Plugs like Martinsen, Kunitz and Manning are with the Hawks is 100% on Q. In an era where development of young players is paramount, Q would doghouse them constantly for one mistake. There are countless promising prospects that Bowman ended up trading for nothing because Q wouldn't play them. Daley for Scuderi was 100% Q. The roster looks worse than it had to because Q would rather play geriatric players like Handzus, Slowszival, Scuderi, and Kunitz rather than develop the kids. Q would rather play plugs like Bollig, Mashinter and Martinsen over young players. TT would never have been a 65 pt player under Q. The best thing that happened to TT is leaving the Hawks. Q's treatment of Jimmy Hayes directly cost the Hawks Kevin Hayes. There are other prospects that weren't put in a position to succeed either. Q is more to blame for the current state of the roster. He stunted growth much more than people realize. Q's unwillingness to adapt to the Modern NHL led to a ton of the poor trades and contracts that you point to. A lot of Bowman's trades were in direct response to Q doghousing young players, or tanking the value of vets by healthy scratching them because they had to trade Oduya and Hjalmarsson. He 100% deserved to be fired today. Q is a great coach for a talented group of players looking to take a step to Cup contention. He is the wrong coach for a retool or rebuild. Ask Daley and Kempny how grateful they ars that Q doghoused them and they go win a ring the same season they are traded, while playing a significant role. What a genius Q is. I'm shocked that I have to defend Stan this much. Blaming him is just being lazy or not accepting the major role Q had in the roster derailment. I'm not saying Stan is without any fault, but Q is getting all of the credit and none of the blame, and the opposite is true of Stan. The truth is somewhere in the middle.

You can't blame Bowman for Bickell getting MS. Had they diagnosed him correctly, they could have put him on LTIR and kept TT. Q always put TT in his doghouse anyway, so I doubt he'd be as good as he is in Carolina here. Given that it took until today for Q to get fired, I doubt TT would be here anyway. He'd have been traded for less than what the Hawks got in that trade at the time.

I was optimistic until this presser. Not so much anymore, as it is obvious McCub is running the show. I'm not sure he knows a puck from his asshole.

Hopefully they can look at some video and make a minor tweak with Giolito that gets that final 2-3 mph that he's missing from his days as a top prospect back. I'm encouraged they got him back to mid 90s for a period of time, keep working on him. He's a project, but he has to start showing signs or they have to punt on him.

This is an important point. If the Cubs, Red Sox, Dodgers, and Jankees(/ozzie) are really out of the bidding, then they have a chance. If those teams sit out, I actually expect the Phillies to end up with one and the other is up in the air.

They got an advantage of signing Crosby and Malkin to deals the Hawks didn't have an opportunity to due to timing. Sorry dude. We're going to have to agree to disagree on this one. They also languished in 1st round exit purgatory for 6 seasons prior to their second two cup wins because of Crosby and Malkin's contracts. Crosby would have a roughly 12.5M caphit over an 8 year term, and if Malkin was up a year or two later he'd be making 11M. If you don't see that as a huge, massive advantage due to nothing more than timing, idk. Both Malkin and Crosby signed their extensions before salaries exploded. The Hawks didn't have that option. Pittsburgh was the beneficiary of dumb luck. The only comparable is the Kings and ask them how paying Kopitar and Doughty 22 M combined is working for them.

It takes time, they went for it in 2015 and 2016. I don't blame them for it one bit. It's obvious they really miss those 1st/2nd rounders they traded during those years. They didn't have the cap space to get a supporting cast through FA. Players come and go, championship banners fly forever. They have rebuilt the pipeline over the last two seasons but the help is a season or two away. They needed to take this step back immediately after the 2015 cup. Now, it will be too late for 19/88. That is my disagreement. Crosby and Malkin have a cap hit 4+M below 19/88 and they're both better players. Quit using Pittsburgh as a comparable. There is no comparison. Also, did you forget how long they had to wait for the cap to get high enough to put a team around Crosby and Malkin? They lost in the 1st round 4 seasons in a row. from 2011-2015.

How much of that is Bowman's fault and how much of it is 19/88/2/7 getting older though? It's obvious both Keith and Seabrook aren't the same players they were even in 2015. Toews has had a couple down years too. Father time is undefeated. Like I said, re-signing Seabrook and trading Panarin for Saad if they knew Hossa was retiring were the only two moves that are egregious since they won the Cup in 2015. Go look at the 2011 roster and go look at the one that nearly won 3 straight cups, and actually did win 2. Bowman had a lot to do with those rosters. In my mind, he has the remainder of this season, as well as next season to get his shit together. If they're not ascending by summer 2020, then Bowman should be gone or his seat should be on fire at the very least.

I will say this, if you're on either the "Fire Stan" or "Fire Q" train, you can't be that far off on the other, can you? I'm on the fence on Bowman personally, but thought Q needed to go last year. I'd be on the Clean House train if it wasn't for Stan's drafting.

Q is an excellent coach, but every coach has a shelf life and his time had come. That said, his PP/PK were dreadful most of his time here, and they won 3 cups despite that.