Dick Allen

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 16, 2018 -> 10:05 AM) One other thing I think that is being missed is that the White Sox had opportunities last year to add guys who would probably have fallen in that 10-15 range, in deals like the Swarzak and Jennings deals. If the White Sox had wanted to get them, they could have targeted guys at the lower levels of the minors, guys who were picked in the 2nd or 3rd rounds the last 2 years, and those guys would have filled in that 10-15 range. They explicitly chose to do something else. The White Sox realized they had another type of asset; they were moving so many big league players out of their system that they had a lot of playing time available at AAA and in the bigs, and they had a lot of open 40 man roster spots. They could instead target guys who were either blocked or who teams had soured on, acquire them, and give them a shot. That's how we wound up with Cordell, Gillaspie, Viera, maybe to a lesser extent Polo. Throw in some of the guys from our org like Engel, Delmonico, Leury - and that logjam at AAA/Big league level is what we have in lieu of depth in the 10-15 range in our prospect lists. Like "B" level prospects, not all of them are going to turn out, but there's very likely a couple of good ballplayers in there. Good teams in the past have found great players this route - giving guys a shot who were blocked elsewhere. This is how the Cubs turned Arrieta into a stud - took a guy the Orioles had soured on and gave him a shot. The key thing we have to do is actually play and develop them. If we acquire these guys and we don't give them a shot, then we have done this exactly backwards. Hence, this is why I go after every idea like "JD Martinez is undervalued we should go after him!" like we're seeing this offseason. We made a decision that we were going to give these guys a shot when we acquired them. If we don't give these guys a shot, then we screwed up every one of those trades. While I agree JD Martinez is not a good idea right now, who are these lower level prospects that would have been in the 10-15 range the White Sox turned down for Jennings and Swarzak?

QUOTE (Jake @ Jan 16, 2018 -> 09:38 AM) If I were trying to start a Cubs network, my first goal would be to get as much *exclusive* Bears content as possible. Sign a deal with the Bears that forces CSN/NBCSN to do that embarrassing stuff where they can't show any video of the games, only photos. Don't have Bears staff and representatives come on NBCSN shows. Then you'd have to go to the Cubs channel to get the good Bears content, where they'll have surely poached the best Bears people from Comcast due to the cancellation of some of the Bears programming. I would agree, but if you are the Bears, you are going to have to know this channel will be on all the systems. I just wonder if the ridiculous TV contracts may be a thing of the past. The Cubs are hot right now, but who knows in 5 years, and when they were bad before, their ratings weren't much better than the White Sox. At least when they were bad, they could make some money on one or two of the other teams being decent. Winter programming would be a big time bore on that station.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jan 16, 2018 -> 09:41 AM) It’s NBC Sports now so I wonder if Comcast even cares Same company.

I still don't understand why DACA is tied into funds for a wall. Trump said Mexico is paying for the wall. According to some, he doesn't lie, it's the reporters who lie when they interpret his remarks incorrectly on purpose. Greg, tell me, when is Mexico wiring the funds?

QUOTE (Brian @ Jan 16, 2018 -> 07:57 AM) I did the annual Black Friday deal. Just said $10 because I don’t think the annual option is available anymore. If you are or know someone who is a Costco member, it is on their site.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Jan 15, 2018 -> 07:24 PM) The big danger that would come here for the Sox is if you have local cable systems that would elect to dump CSN for a Cubs network to be their RSN, especially if a Cubs RSN would pick up programming. There could be cable systems, on the fringes of CSN's area (say Iowa for example) where they'd much rather take a channel with just the Cubs than one with the Sox, Bulls, Blackhawks, etc. because those other three wouldn't have the pull combined of the Cubs. Here in central Iowa, we only have one RSN (Fox Sports Midwest) and they will not add CSN, despite Cubs AND Sox fans, as well as Bulls/Blackhawk fans. I don't think cable systems would dump the Sox, Bulls and Blackhawks for the Cubs. This is a long term thing. Keep in mind, Cubs TV ratings were pretty bad 3 or 4 years ago. It isn't like the team will never be bad again. We know Comcast would keep them since they own part of the station, and I am sure other systems all have contracts.

I was at the Bulls game today. Stacey King has obviously put on a lot of weight since his playing days, but my is he large. I think he is easily over 400 lbs.

Trump who made fun of a disabled reporter, then denied he ever did. Who , when criticized for not paying taxes iby Hillary in a debate, who replied that make him smart, then said he never said that. Who bragged about grabbing women by the p****. Then said they were just words, lockeroom talk, and denied ever doing it despite multiple accusers, then said he thought the tape of him saying it was probably a fake, now, despite admitting to friends what he said, despite Lindsey Graham acknowledging he crossed a line, is now taunting During, calling him Dicky. and his misrepresentation was s***hole vs.s***house which I posted a few days ago.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 15, 2018 -> 10:58 AM) I really do wish I could say that officiating didn't decide both of those games yesterday, but it was at least as big of a factor as anything else. I'd have loved those games so much more if I hadn't felt the officials wound up with a lot of weak calls favoring the 2 teams that won. The Saints have only themselves to blame.

Maybe Teump will be able to hire Americans to work at Mar a lago and pay them a decent wage with the tax cuts instead of hiring a bunch of Haitians with special visas with these tax cuts. Haitians cleaning Mar a lago? That place must be a s***hole.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jan 14, 2018 -> 04:22 PM) Hmmm. Lots of people at the meeting now saying Trump never said 's***hole'. Interesting. Libel suit? Give them lie detector tests.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jan 14, 2018 -> 04:22 PM) Hmmm. Lots of people at the meeting now saying Trump never said 's***hole'. Interesting. Libel suit? He said s***house.

All the Money in the World was good, not great. I would give Molly's World good because as a heterosexual male Jessica Chastain is nice to look at for 2 hours, but thought in reality it was only slightly above average. This moviepass thing is awesome.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jan 14, 2018 -> 02:34 PM) But is this Paddy’s strategy or Hahn’s? From what I have heard at Soxfest seminars, and read , it seems to be something in which they agree.

QUOTE (Jack Parkman @ Jan 14, 2018 -> 02:12 PM) The Blackhawks wouldn't partner with the Cubs, because IIRC Wirtz/Reinsdorf have a pretty good partnership due to sharing the UC. The Cubs, will in fact, be on their own because the Hawks and Reinsdorf teams are more in line with each other than they are with the Cubs. Bears really don't matter, because the NFL is purely national broadcasts. I'd love to see this fail spectacularly because they don't have anyone else to put on their channel. They supposedly have had a lot of talks with the Bears about throwing Bears content,on their network. obviously not the games. It will be interesting to see how it works. If it works like the Dodgers and they get billions upon billions but no one in Chicago can watch their games, would that benefit the White Sox in the long run?

He has been around for 6 years. I once read where the average DR prospect takes at least 7 years to develop, so at the very least, he isn't ahead of the curve, To be fair he took over an operation that was probably as low as you can go. I thin he has a couple more years at least before you can say he failed though. Some of these guys have to develop. But it is hard to pick out a 15 or 16 year old and say future star major leaguer. It's hard in any sport. I would imagine basketball would be the easiest. Lebron is a no brainer, but take these guys when they are sophomores and juniors in high school and project them in one of the hardest if not the hardest sport to project, is something where everyone fails. If the Sox didn't trade for Shields and all things remained the same, this thread probably does not exist. I do now at one of the seminars I was at during Soxfest last year, they were really projecting a Lat Am breakout in 2017. I don't think it happened to the scale they were hoping, maybe this year, but their development staff seemed pretty confident their LatAm signings would soon become household names to White Sox fans.

The White Sox aren't going to sign him. He is a great hitter, but there are red flags other than defensively he leaves a lot to be desired. In his 4 full major league seasons, he has missed at least 39 games 3 times, he is coming off a career year where he more than doubled his HR rate from the previous season. Regression is a real good possibility. And the White Sox aren't ready to contend in 2018, and really a lot would have to go right for it to happen in 2019, so you are paying for his logically most productive seasons for really no reason other than to say JD Martinez is on the roster, and they will have spent money for nothing they could have spent on need when it was more appropriate.

Also this $1000 one time bonuses are based on service time. Most lower waged employees will get around $200. MAGA.

The White Sox are finally replacing the old ribbon board around the park. Supposedly it is longer and better. I just hope they can throw more things on it than basically ads.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jan 12, 2018 -> 11:22 PM) I'm still Republican though as you all know I've not voted one for President in quite a while. And I'm a huge Jimmy Carter fan. I think Trump's comments usually suck. However did he really say this or not?? I want proof. How about 2 Senators one dem and one GOP confirmed?

What do some of the republican posters think of Trumps comments? They are as silent as republican politicians.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jan 12, 2018 -> 05:57 PM) That same mlbtr model had Abreu at $17.9 million and he signed for $13 million today. Right, but they did say his case was unusual. I bet Avi signs for around $6.3 million.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jan 12, 2018 -> 05:33 PM) Sox haven't gone to arbitration since 2001 with Keith Foulke. He'll lose IMO. The MLB trade rumors projection was $6.7 million. If it is still possible, I would bet they would probably split the difference, but the Sox figure does seem a little low, and Avi's not so crazy. You take the midway point between the 2 offers and I think Avi is worth that. I don't think it is worth what you have to do in arbitration to save hardly anything, and really, Unless the mlbtr model is really off, Avi should win. He has $425k in value to play with under their model and the Sox offer.

I am thinking as long as the payroll remains as low as it is they will be linked in some way as a possibility with all the high end guys.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jan 12, 2018 -> 03:07 PM) Maybe I'm crazy but I feel like his hit percentage his last 2 drafts are exactly what he needs again. Maybe Trubisky will be a big hit, but Floyd, the jury is still out, and White, right now a bust. It isn't over for those two, and maybe all 3 will be Pro Bowlers eventually, but he does need his top draft pick to stay healthy and help the team win in year one. Looks like he did find some gems in later rounds. His free agent signings have to be more like Hicks.