caulfield12

1/2 game from the Gigantes....

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 28, 2017 -> 03:47 PM) I at least am taking hombrage in that we will be able to buy a melky cabrera at the deadline when we are good for peanuts and we will have bullets to do it without blinking. Umbrage

QUOTE (Middle Buffalo @ Jul 28, 2017 -> 07:01 PM) Yep. I was aware of the story, but then it went away because it wasn't properly filed. I guess it was refiled recently. Not good, but fake news, Hillary, blah blah blah. Bill Clinton is equally smack dab in the middle of that story...and not in a particularly flattering way.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn_suicides It took them WAY too long to figure out putting up nets was one simple way to prevent those deaths. The sad part is the workers always waited until they'd first sent their latest paycheck back to their families...usually, many provinces away from Shenzhen.

Moncada having a pretty rough first 50 MLB at bats isn't helping. Probably a bit overwhelmed by Sox/Cubs environment. At least he's walked four times, hbp, two huge XB hits. He absolutely has to be an 875-925 ops hitter with at least average defense at second for this whole thing to work. (Waits for Robin Ventura, Mike Trout comps as to their big league beginnings/foibles.)

QUOTE (knightni @ Jul 28, 2017 -> 07:01 AM) Who cares? They're rebuilding and the World Champs are 8 miles away. It's going to suck. Are you contributing to the attendance this season? Yes, I just went last Saturday but have to go back to China Sunday. 3 LF bleacher tickets x 29=$87 Parking=$20 Irish nachos, three Cokes, two corn dogs=$37 Lemonade=$7? $151 total for family of three and 2 1/2 year old. Plus MLB Gameday Audio, TV and MILB subscriptions. Bought Extra Innings for family friend with Direct TV, $129.99 Happy? The main point is the attendance has been much higher than almost everyone predicted...nobody was projecting increases, not that I ever noticed.

QUOTE (South Side Fireworks Man @ Jul 28, 2017 -> 06:49 AM) Cubs got Anthony Rizzo for Andrew Cashner. After the Sox traded Chris Sale, Jose Quintana and Adam Eaton, they still don't have anyone in their organization that is likely become a player as good as Rizzo. Theo didn't have a young, talented, controllable core like Sale, Quintana and Eaton to build around, so he had to tear down and rebuild and he did an extraordinary job. The Sox have traded away more value than Theo did and the jury is still out on the prospects they got in return. The Sox don't have a stellar record when it comes to developing talent. And what are the odds that whomever the Sox draft in 2018 turns out to be as good a player as Kris Bryant? Would JR be willing to bring in an experienced, highly rated manager? I understand what the Sox are trying to do but by no means are they guaranteed to be as successful as the Cubs, Astros or Royals. Some seem to think that just because it worked for the Cubs it's a sure thing it will turn out as successful for the Sox. It could go either way. It would be a shame if it turns out the Sox exchanged a young, inexpensive, controllable core of Sale, Quintana and Eaton for a decade or more of mediocrity. I would have felt better if the Sox were able to trade these guys for top rated prospects with ETAs of 2017 and 2018 and then augment them with good FA signings. Now we'll just have to bear with horrible baseball for a couple of years and wait to see if the Sox organization under Buddy Bell and Chris Getz can develop these A level prospects and hope Moncada doesn't turn out to be another Gordon Beckham. Edwin Jackson Soler Almora, Jr. (too high a draft pick for 4th outfielder) Heyward Those are probably the biggest mistakes...I guess you can argue Montero based on salary and production. Ian Stewart, Ryan Sweeney, etc., pretty inconsequential. Concepcion, etc. Now the biggest questions are how much Schwarber and Happ hurt them defensively...Zobrist hits an "age wall," and who is the real Addison Russell? Long term, they need two more starters (maybe three, with Hendricks at 84-86) and the bullpen will need to replace Wade Davis with one of Strop, Edwards Jr. and Rondon. Lester has a ton of wear and tear. Maybe they try to extend Davis 3 years? A (potentially) great young two-way catcher like Contreras really covers up a lot, too. Obviously the Bryant/Rizzo tandem.

Average for the season now 23,024. Over 1 million with 36 home dates left. 27th in MLB, but within 1000-1200ish of Rust Belt enclaves Cleve, Cincy and Pittsburgh. Last year's average was 21,828, for 26th...barely ahead of the Marlins. Doubt we can maintain that from here on out...but would represent a 5.5% increase if they did. Need 733,197 to exactly equal last year. That would be a 20,367 average, it's going to be close. CLE and TOR 6 Hou and KC 6 Minn and Det 7 TB, Cleve and SF 10 KC and LAA 7 Bad break with Houston the only real interesting team remaining, lots of September games and SF Giants terrible.

Mazie Hirono...

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trumps-unwit...-191235900.html Trump's unwitting legacy could be universal health coverage

Sox Fan in Huskerland...from another thread QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 27, 2017 -> 10:05 PM) * It's really disgusting to have a team this bad. Team has won one game since Q left. The Sox are in a full on rebuild and have sold off nearly all of their valuable MLB assets, what do you seriously expect? If you are not going to be competing for the playoffs, then it is best to be as awful as you can be to stockpile talent via the draft. Look at how the Cubs built a large chunk of their foundation. They sucked for 5 years and are reaping the benefits now. Willson Contreras International FA in 2009 as a 17 year old. Anthony Rizzo traded to Cubs for Andrew Cashner in Jan 2012 after 71-91 season in 2011. Javier Baez drafted with 9th pick in 2011 draft after Cubs went 75-87 the previous year. Addison Russell traded to Cubs for Jeff Samardzija in July 2014. Cubs went 73-89 in 2014. Kris Bryant drafted with 2nd pick in 2013 draft after Cubs went 61-101 the previous year. Kyle Schwarber drafted with 4th pick in 2014 draft after Cubs went 66-96 the previous year. Albert Almora drafted with 6th pick in 2012 draft after Cubs went 71-91 the previous year. Ian Happ drafted with the 9th pick in 2015 draft after Cubs went 73-89 the previous year. From 2010 until 2014 the Cubs went: 2010 - 75-87 2011 - 71-91 2012 - 61-101 Epstein's 1st season as GM. 2013 - 66-96 2014 - 73-89 The Cubs had 5 Top 9 picks, and 2 in the Top 4. Do you think Cubs fans cared about going 61-101 in 2012, after these last 3 seasons? They think Theo Epstein is a genius. The Cubs weren't the only team to completely suck for a bunch of years, stock pile young talent and win a World Series. Look at the Royals. They were built on 3 top 3 picks who turned out to be All Stars (Gordon, Moustakas, & Hosmer), a couple of international signings that turned out great for them (Perez, Ventura, & Herrera), and 2 key pieces from trading off a Cy Young winner in Zack Greinke (Cain & Escobar). C - Perez International FA in 2006 as a 16 year old. 1B - Hosmer 3rd pick in 2008 draft. SS - Escobar traded to Royals for Zack Greinke in Dec. 2010. 3B - Moustakas 2nd pick in 2007 draft. LF - Alex Gordon 2nd pick in 2005 draft. CF - Lorenzo Cain traded to Royals for Zack Greinke in Dec. 2010. P - Ventura International FA in 2008 as a 17 year old. P - Wade Davis traded to Royals in Dec 2012 after going 72-90. P - Herrera International FA in 2006 as a 16 year old. Look at the Astros currently, they have the best record in the AL by 11.5 games. They went 74-88, 76-86, 56-106, 55-107, 51-111, 70-92 from 2009-2014. 1B - Gurriel International FA in 2016 as a 32 year old. 2B - Altuve International FA in 2007 as a 16 year old. SS - Correa 1st pick in 2012 draft after the Astros went 56-106 the previous year. 3B - Bregman 2nd pick in 2015 draft after the Astros failed to sign Brady Aiken in 2014. UT - Marwin Gonzalez traded to Astros in 2011 for Marco Duarte. CF - Springer 11th pick in 2011 draft after the Astros went 76-86 the previous year. P - Marisnick traded to Astros in 2014 for Jarred Cosart P - McCullers 41st pick in 2012 draft. P - Musgrove traded to Astros in 2012 for JA Happ. P - Brad Peacock traded to Astros in 2013 for Jed Lowrie. They also have OF Kyle Tucker in AA tearing it up as a result of the 5th pick in the 2015 draft. The Sox meanwhile have a loaded farm right now. C - Collins, Zavala, Skoug 1B - Gillaspie, Sheets 2B - Moncada SS - ? 3B - Burger OF - Jimenez, Adolfo OF - Robert, Tilson, Basabe OF - Rutherford, Cordell RHP - Kopech, Lopez, Giolito, Cease, Hansen, Adams, Dunning, Burdi, Fulmer, Stephens LHP - Stephens, Clarkin We should get a Top 3 pick in the 2018 draft, and hopefully we get another Top 3 pick in the 2019 draft. I really hope they are elite position players that we get as well(Turang & Witt Jr.). In 2019 we should be ready to start to be competitive again, and should be set for a long time. Look at some of the top picks dating back to 2004: 2004 - Verlander 2nd pick 2005 - Justin Upton 1st pick, Alex Gordon 2nd pick, Ryan Zimmerman 4th pick, Ryan Braun 5th pick, Tulo 7th pick 2006 - Longoria 3rd pick, Kershaw 7th pick 2007 - Price 1st pick, Moustakas 2nd pick, Wieters 5th pick 2008 - Hosmer 3rd pick, Posey 5th pick 2009 - Strasburg 1st pick 2010 - Harper 1st pick, Machado 3rd 2011 - Cole 1st pick, Rendon 6th pick, Lindor 8th pick 2012 - Correa 1st pick 2013 - Bryant 2nd pick 2014 - Rodon 3rd pick 2015 - Bregman 2nd pick, Rogers 3rd pick, Tucker 5th pick, Benintendi 7th pick. The Sox had the 8th pick (Fulmer), and 2 more wins than Boston. If the Sox can hit on a superstar type of player with their upcoming high draft picks, coupled with the talent we have in the minors, and payroll flexibility we should be loaded for a very long, long time. If that means we have to play awful baseball now for 2 years, so be it. We haven't been to the playoffs in 9 seasons.

McCain, Murkowski and Collins deserve praise for sticking their necks out. For McCain, maybe his last opportunity to craft his "maverick" legacy for the history books. Not exactly Profiles in Courage, but it will suffice. Priceless to see the look on McConnell's face, same with Cornyn.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jul 27, 2017 -> 11:04 PM) Good god, your posts are unbearable when you get into your negative Nancy moods. He asked the question...it mirrors the arguments made in the fangraphs article, particularly in regards to the position prospects. Who knows, maybe they finally strike gold with Burger. The Sox have usually excelled in having "under the radar" guys like Buehrle, Rowand, and Q hit, rather than the very top guys. Not sure exactly why that is...arguably, pitchers from that era like Josh Fogg and Bradford had more impact than the predicted future studs. Same thing with relievers like Jenks, Santos, Reed, Devenski, Santiago, Guerra, etc.

Almost catching Giants...but the Reds aren't making things easy.

43 million by 2026.... basically 1 in 7 Americans. Which is basically the same percentage healthcare represents of the cumulative US economy.

McCain might be the only way to stop it....Collins and Murkowski? Heller? Johnson? Paul? Lee? Nobody's even paying attention with all this Scaramucci soap opera. He doesn't even officially have a White House position, and the sale of his investment group to a Chinese consortium for double its value hasn't been approved, well...never mind.

Scioscia with a rebuilding team filled with youngsters....? That and the fact he wants to have total control and micromanages everyone to death, his team...front office, ownership group. Need some younger blood IMO.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jul 27, 2017 -> 09:18 PM) It's way more disgusting to spend the money they did from 2009-2016 and not make the playoffs once. In a division where big market resources should vastly outstrip KC, Cleveland, Minnesota and Detroit...Illitch notwithstanding.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 27, 2017 -> 04:29 PM) Why is it the riskiest? Moncada k'ing 30-40% of the time. Jimenez and Rutherford aren't out of this world hitters at corner outfield spots, making them 1.5-2.25 fWAR guys. Kopech never finds his control or gets hurt. Cease and Giolito already with one TJS. Most of the hurlers have concerns about durability, or pitchability, as starters. Robert doesn't live up to his hype. See article above...

Yep, thanks to everyone. So apparently, the White Sox have the "riskiest" Top 1/2 farm system in the history of baseball. Typical. With the least experienced (Getz) or most lackluster (Buddy Bell/Laumann still hanging on?) as key decision-makers...

QUOTE (beautox @ Jul 27, 2017 -> 01:26 PM) maybe spring training So back problems, TJS and now this...I just don't see how realistically that contract ends up working out for the Sox. In hindsight, we should have traded him when he was actually healthy, but that ship has sailed long ago, just as it did on Crede/Jenks/Floyd/Crain. Holland, in all likelihood, as well.

Nope. It's a legitimate question. It was here, SOMEWHERE...but we don't have a way to search specifically through the site to find it. http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/2015717...es-sooner-think A Cubs-White Sox World Series could come sooner than you think The Cubs' timeline for winning has been scrutinized time and again, and the process through which they became a model franchise is one that other teams are scrambling to replicate. The bottom line: The rebuild wasn't in effect, at least in terms of regular-season play, until the start of the 2012 season. They went on to lose 101 games. The Cubs made the postseason in 2015, after making their first major free-agent splurge to augment their young core with the signing of Jon Lester. They won the World Series in 2016, the fifth season of the rebuild. That's extraordinarily fast, but if Hahn and the White Sox can match that timeline, then we're looking at the White Sox leaping into contention by 2020 and challenging for a title in 2021. That, if you recall, is the conservative estimate we put on the Cubs' current window of elite contention. http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-white-s...g-bets-on-risk/ White Sox big bets on risk (Dave Cameron) Rick Hahn deserves a lot of credit for the moves he’s made in rebuilding the White Sox, and the team certainly has a brighter future now than they did at the end of last year. That said, there’s also a pretty clear pattern emerging among the guys the White Sox have acquired; the perceived upside outstrips the actual performance record right now. Put simply, the White Sox have repeatedly bet on guys whose hype isn’t quite yet supported by actual performance. Let’s take a look at those same prospects again, only instead of looking at BA’s rankings, let’s look at how they rate by Chris Mitchell’s KATOH system, which is based solely on a player’s performance record. We’ll also include their KATOH+ ratings, which adds in BA’s rankings for an attempt at a holistic stats-and-scouting blend. For every one of the main pieces returned in the team’s four big trades, the stats-only version of KATOH is lower than the KATOH+ version, which incorporates BA’s rankings. And not in small ways. Based solely on their performance data to this point, Moncada and Jimenez project to produce about half of the value compared to when you include their BA rankings. And Rutherford stands out as the biggest outlier of all, ranking as a top-tier prospect in both the pre-season and mid-season BA lists, but grading out as a fringe prospect at best by his actual performance record to this point. Of course, stats-only models are ignoring hugely important factors in a player’s development, and no one should look at KATOH’s numbers and think those are the right ones. Performance record is important, but it’s definitely not everything, and you’re always better off including as much good information as you can, which is why KATOH+ will do a better job of projecting players than the stats-only model. But it’s also not a coincidence that these were the guys who weren’t off limits in negotiations. While it’s not like the Red Sox were eager to give up Yoan Moncada, his performance — specifically his contact rate — raised some red flags, and made him a bit more of an offensive question mark that the usual type of players who are rated as the best overall prospect in the game. The upside is obvious, but as Chris Mitchell noted this morning, the bust potential here is also high enough that KATOH isn’t quite as high on him as everyone else. The same is true of Jimenez and Rutherford, both of whom project as corner outfielders, and will have to hit really well to be legitimate stars in the big leagues. Jimenez is doing actual damage against low-minors pitchers, but Rutherford isn’t yet showing much power, and both of these guys are basically nothing if they don’t hit. And the history of guys who have to hit in order to be valuable big leaguers is strewn with top prospects who didn’t pan out. Again, plenty of risk here. Then they get started on the pitchers... These seven guys (starting pitchers) all have really impressive physical tools, but they also each have pretty significant flaws at the moment, most of them revolving around the strike zone. Certainly, these guys can improve from what they currently are, but part of the reason the White Sox were able to acquire all these guys is that their development is anything but guaranteed. Rick Hahn prioritized upside in his acquisitions, and while he’s done a great job picking up guys that have obviously high ceilings, we also shouldn’t be surprised when most of these guys don’t make it (not to mention two guys with TJS on their resumes, my comment). Obviously, there are risks with every prospect, and saying that a bunch of them are going to fail isn’t breaking news. But it’s notable that the White Sox have landed risky prospects even by prospect standards, and the performance records of the guys Hahn has been acquiring don’t yet match up with their prospect rankings. For these deals to work out as well as the White Sox hope, their player development system is going to have to take some raw materials and turn them into polished big leaguers.

Btw, what is the current health status of Nate Jones? He's actually going to be ready by the beginning of the 2018 season to be the closer, after all of his health problems?

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Jul 27, 2017 -> 11:35 AM) Hopefully by that time, Delmonico is just in the majors playing LF post-Melky trade or DHing. They won't just stick him out in a major league outfield without significant preparation. We'll see other outfielders over him at this point, like a Cordell/Polo/W.Garcia/Liriano.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jul 27, 2017 -> 10:43 AM) I don't understand how the whole conference process works, but the parliamentarian just Byrd'd out Essential Health Benefits repeal. There are a decent number of provisions in the BCRA bill that now require 60 votes unless McConnell decides to blow up the parliamentarian or the legislative filibuster. There was that (EHB), PP and this.... Defunding Planned Parenthood was only one of the provisions that violate the Senate rules; the parliamentarian also ruled that abortion restrictions on tax credits under the Republican bill could be subject to a point of order on the Senate floor, as could other provisions. Another key provision cited by the parliamentarian would have imposed a six-month waiting period for those who let their coverage lapse. This measure was meant to replace the individual mandate. Both are designed to prod younger and healthier people to sign up for and maintain coverage since they offset the higher costs of the sick. This type of provision is critical to keeping insurers in the market. The parliamentarian also said that a provision in the Senate bill that would limit New York's ability to require upstate counties and Long Island to contribute to the state's Medicaid program -- which critics refer to as the "Buffalo Bailout" -- also did not pass muster. This addition was key to garnering the support of several New York Republicans for the House bill. cnn.com