witesoxfan

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Oct 3, 2013 -> 03:48 PM) It would be nice, just once, to have a player to be excited about who was a position prospect we drafted and developed. That's all. Last year at this time, we all thought it might be Courtney Hawkins. Once upon a time, it was Beckham. If they're already starting to losing fans who used to live and die with the White Sox, it's going to take even longer to get back the casual fans. While I agree it would be nice to have one drafted/signed and developed, it's not necessary. I'm sure plenty of people will inevitably buy Avisail Garcia jerseys. This isn't necessarily a process that can be done overnight.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Oct 3, 2013 -> 03:28 PM) Except a trained chimp could have done a better job coming up with a Sox offseason than Jeff Keppinger. He could have been programmed with code...never take a former Rays' super-utility player, never take a former Rays' super-utility player. Rinse and repeat. About the only thing that went okay/well/better than expected was picking up Gillaspie for Soptic. However, I bet there must be no more than 100 or so Conor authentic jerseys in existence in the United States today. Keppinger has a career OPS of over .700. He just barely got to a .600 OPS by the end of the year. It was a colossally disappointing season. Blaming Hahn for that is like blaming Williams for Dunn - at some point, it's just bad luck, because on the surface the move is decent. And the last part...why are you so obsessed with jersey sales? Who cares. Can't you just say "it was a good move" and be done?

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Oct 3, 2013 -> 03:10 PM) If Tigers bow out in the first round, I wonder if they throw more money at the roster next season On what though? The only thing they could really upgrade would be 2B, and do you think they have the balls to throw $300 million at Robinson Cano?

Good idea Really, really hoping the Pirates can win the whole thing. It hasn't been 88 years, but that would be one of the more gratifying World Series wins in recent years.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Oct 3, 2013 -> 03:14 PM) That was followed five days later by "Grandstand Manager's Day," perhaps Veeck's most elaborate stunt. With himself, former Philadelphia Athletics manager Connie Mack, and thousands of fans holding placards that said yes on one side and no on the other, publicity director Bob Fischel held up cards with proposed moves - steal, bunt, change pitchers - to which the grandstand managers flashed their opinions. While manager Zack Taylor puffed a pipe and relaxed in a rocking chair, the fans called an excellent game: The Browns won, 5-3, to stop a four-game losing streak. That's managerial decisions. Some of those are tougher, but if it just comes to bunting, swinging, taking pitchers out, whatever, I truly believe a trained chimp could do that. Actually GMing a team is an entirely different story.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Oct 3, 2013 -> 03:08 PM) Asst strength coach was running money from agents to bama players, Ha Ha Dix suspended for taking the money, the coach also suspended. Sounds like LOIC to me, and Bama would be a multiple offender. Welp might be time for Saban to test his luck in the NFL again, huh?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 3, 2013 -> 02:44 PM) One of these days, I hope they come up with a reality show that actually runs a team according to fan popular vote. That would be worth watching for its legendary badness. Sounds like something we can set up during the 2014 season. We'll let the Sox get their guys, but we can set up polls for the infield, outfield and catcher, bench, rotation and bullpen around week 2-3 of Spring Training, and periodically we can create a new one and track it.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 3, 2013 -> 02:26 PM) Once the arbitrator comes back with a decision. Both parties are obligated to it at that point. Technically, the Sox can non-tender De Aza. They won't. Soxfest just wants them to because De Aza apparently angered him to the point of pure hatred while playing around with a ball on a field of grass and dirt while getting paid by someone else to do so.

My first reaction is that she was probably a disgruntled federal employee

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Oct 3, 2013 -> 10:53 AM) When did Rodney start throwing 100? With an 85MPH slider he is pretty damn impressive. I never knew his stuff to be that good but I may not have been paying attention. He is the epitome of an assclown and makes me root against Tampa. Fernando Rodney, fastball velocity, per year 2007 - 93.8 2008 - 95.4 2009 - 95.9 2010 - 95.6 2011 - 95.5 2012 - 96.2 2013 - 96.6

QUOTE (chw42 @ Oct 3, 2013 -> 10:28 AM) I'm not sure if I'm excited to watch, but I'll be happy to see Cameron catch a few TDs. NO Also, NOBODY CARES ABOUT YOUR FANTASY TEAM

WHO'S READY FOR BILLS AND BROWNS? Easily the two most exciting teams in the NFL

QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 2, 2013 -> 09:50 PM) I'm down on Viciedo because like many of the Sox prospects, he has started his big league career slowly, some might say poorly. He's 24 years old (allegedly) so nobody's going to be willing to give up on him yet (DeAza will be the guy the Sox dump), but his numbers have been unimpressive. I'm hoping badly it's just a natural progression and he'll get better but I'm not holding my breath. This year he hit .265 with .304 OBP. He had 98 strikeouts to 24 walks in 473 plate appearances. So he swings at everything pretty much. In 543 plate appearances in 2012 he hit .255 with .300 OBP with 120 strikeouts, 28 walks. Considering his lack of speed and average to below average fielding, coupled with his annoying habit of swinging at everything, I just don't like him anymore. He'll get one year or more with our next hitting coach. I hope he develops, but I don't like anything about his approach at the plate right now or the results at the plate. Beckham has had five years to do something, so I'm pretty sure Sox won't give up on the Tank yet. I appreciate this post. I will point out that he had a .792 OPS in the second half after an incredibly disappointing first half, but you are looking at the numbers. You will find that doing so will legitimize your arguments.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Oct 3, 2013 -> 08:27 AM) If you look at the 2004-2005 and 2007-2008 offseasons, you'd find perhaps a majority of Sox fans thinking those teams were 3-5 years from contending for another division crown. If you look at the 2005-2006 and 2008-2009 offseasons, you'd find that most people thought the Sox would go on sustained periods of success. It's a fickle game.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 2, 2013 -> 09:55 PM) Well, I have criticized the Sox bad contracts in the past (Rios, Dunn, Danks) so I guess all I can say is I trust Hahn to do the right thing this time around. Sox are going to have to pay somebody to fix this atrocious lineup or we lose 99 to 108 games again. Personally I'd suggest signing AJP for a pittance and yes, throw some cash at Grandy or Choo and of course, Abreu and pray it works out. At least my couple of minor deals adds five new bats to our crummy lineup. That's not a bad attempt at improvement (Semien; Garcia; McCann/AJ; Grandy/Choo; new third baseman. If you took the White Sox lineup from September and let them play 100 quick seasons, they'd lose 90 or fewer more times than not. It wasn't a good team, but they were pretty snakebitten all year long.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 2, 2013 -> 10:01 PM) DeAza is another guy who tends to annoy. 675 plate appearances this year and 147 strikeouts? Just 50 walks for a leadoff hitter. 20 stolen bases and caught 8 times. 17 homers and 62 ribbies. His extended two-year tryout has resulted in an average hitter. Because of all his blunders this year, I'd suggest he'll be shown the door with Tank and A. Garcia 2/3 of the outfield and a newcomer taking over in center. The last thing this team needs to do right now is send an average player to the door considering how little talent there is on the roster. BTW - Alejando De Aza was tied for 85th in the MLB with 6 others in BB% among qualified players at 7.4%. That means he was above average at drawing walks. Of course you'd like him to take more and strike out less, but jesus is this the ultimate in beggars can't be choosers.

QUOTE (ChiSoxFan05 @ Oct 3, 2013 -> 07:02 AM) In 2011 he only played in 129 games- 35 of which were with the Blue Jays. He missed 15 Blue Jay games because of injury. Aside from how silly this argument is, we'll go with your logic and numbers. With Rasmus, you get a really good player for 130 and a replacement level player for 32. With Markakis, you get Greek Darin Erstad for 162 games. Which are you taking?

So Tim Anderson might be Erick Aybar and Micah Johnson is Emilio Bonaficio

Hawk was a great announcer. Nowadays I still like listening to him, but I think there are better play by play guys. The fact is, there has probably never been a more polarizing figure calling a game than Hawk Harrelson. For that alone, he should be a Hall of Famer.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Oct 2, 2013 -> 04:14 PM) Why is it that only an untouchable prospect would be worth $30M? You won't even be able to get Abreau for that. Because Abreu is a free agent. Teams are less willing to part with these players who can be elite because of what elite players can do for a franchise. Andrew McCutchen has been the focal point of the Pirates turn around. Buster Posey has been the best player on World Series winning teams. The effect players like that have on a team are monumental and teams just don't give them up. So, because Byron Buxton is already under contract with Minnesota, they aren't going to let him go for really anything. Dealing him for Trout doesn't make sense because he could be just as good as Trout but Trout is already that close to free agency and about to get very, very expensive. If he's not and he's only a .300/.370/.450 type hitter, then oh well, they made a mistake. I guarantee if Buxton or Sano or Taillon or Walker or Taveras were free agents right now, they'd sign contracts in the $30-40 million range. Teams aren't going to give them up for that though when they are very cheap for at least the first 2 years and are paid below market value for the next 3-4 years.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Oct 2, 2013 -> 04:05 PM) But who would offer a prospect to the White Sox for taking on a bad contract anyway? Let alone the ype of guy that would make this worthwhile -- we're talking like Taillon or Buxton or some other untouchable.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Oct 2, 2013 -> 03:57 PM) If they are offered the right prospect why not, right? Because that prospect doesn't exist. Right now that prospect would have to be Byron Buxton, Taijuan Walker, or Miguel Sano - someone in that class - and teams simply will not give up prospects of that caliber for mere payroll flexibility. Any prospects of lesser quality are not worth the inherent risk and can likely be acquired for other assets. It's not reasonable Marty. Get over it.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Oct 2, 2013 -> 03:42 PM) They should be getting these guys in addition to trying to get another top young hitter. Yes, but the point is, you don't have to take on $30 million in bad contracts for a shot at it. You can find these guys by signing players to 1 year deals and shipping them off if/when out of contention, claiming guys off waivers, signing minor league free agents, and making miscellaneous trades otherwise. About the only other way you are going to get that kind of young bat right now is by trading a pitcher, and while I'm OK with that, the organization has to be 100% sure it's the right guy.

QUOTE (bbilek1 @ Oct 2, 2013 -> 03:20 PM) I agree. Look at the A's with Donaldson, Moss and to a lesser extent Jed Lowrie. If you move down the division, you see a guy in David Murphy who has been on the Rangers roster forever - he was acquired in a deal for Eric Gagne, who had signed a 1 year deal with the Rangers. And they gave Marlon Byrd a chance after it seemed like his career was done, and he's been a pretty damn good player and had a great resurgent year. Guys figure it out and get lost all the time. Stockpiling talent is the best way to combat guys who simply lose it. BTW, Brett Anderson is only going to be 26 next year. He is worth a flyer if he wants to sign. Maybe he can be a lefty reliever.

The Broncos are going 16-0. There Rowand, now it's thread appropriate Also, this. Schiano is awful