caulfield12

Well, it’s hard to imagine that won’t come back to bite the Sox...

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/24292131/cardinals-get-tyson-ross-brewers-get-jordan-lyles-padres Padres trying to “reverse pass” the Sox...aka tank more efficiently.

Do Cubs’ fans care about Chapman today? Would they give up their trophy? Can we question Epstein’s success because of what we suspect (or are willing to overlook) about David Ortiz? It seems the only thing you can’t do these days is 1) be Heimlich with the pedophilia charges or 2) cover up or push under the rug domestic violence/abuse. I don’t see anyone willing to give back Jimenez and Cease because Q got busted for PEDs nearly a decade ago now.

Then bring in Sam Hinkie, he could at least sell “trust the process.” He’s actually something of a cult hero these days in Philly.

I know, everyone thought Luhnow was crazy...polarizing...Darth Vader...the early contracts for guys like Singleton, the Brady Aiken fiasco, the Appel fiasco, the JD Martinez fiasco. The mysterious proprietary database that set the standard for the industry. Nobody likes change and innovation. He was essentially Moneyball 2, except with even more “tech geeks” involved. Luhnow’s a stone cold killer, the Verlander, Cole and Osuna acquisitions are further proof. Exactly when have the White Sox ever innovated and led the industry since 2006? And Luhnow at least provoked a strong reaction, one way or the other, love or hate. Hahn is probably the most vanilla and least charismatic leader since...well, I guess there’s always Robin Ventura to pick on. Maybe because we’re forced to listen to Maddon and Epstein all the time, the juxtaposition of styles couldn’t be any greater. Maybe he’s zigging where everyone else is zagging, ala a certain occupant at 1600 Pennsylvania?

There aren’t many since 2012. Abreu, convincing Robert to sign and the amount of money earmarked, more draft spending/focus, Avi’s 2017, Anderson’s rookie year and parts of 2018, Moncada for stretches...Giolito and Lopez for stretches. Rodon fell into their laps as the obvious choice at #3. On the other hand, how close are we to having Tanaka and Gordon on what would be franchise killing contracts at this point in 2018? What assessment have they made since 2011 that was spot on in the FA market? What has been the real payoff of Marco Paddy? When have we hired a manager who wasn’t there to absorb flak from the media/fanbase and cover for JR/KW/RH? Greg’s not right on many baseball insights, but he was dead on about Francona when he joined the Indians. Even the revenue-starved Indians were willing to pony up legit cash there.

Let’s just put it this way...would you bet your kids’ education fund (all in) that the White Sox are going to make the playoffs in 2021? Because I’m sure back in 2014 tons of Astros and Cubs fans would have made that same bet they would be both be there by the 2016-17 seasons. Everything looks good on paper, sure...but just refer back to how confident Balta was at the beginning of the season compared to today’s, let’s call it healthy skepticism/Doubting Thomas vibe. He was all LBJ/GOAT/J4L mode. What caused that? Well, the last 2-3 pages of this thread pretty much cover the reasons.

Out of the 5 most important players on the current roster, only Rodon has taken a big step forward. If you want to include Fulmer, it’s 1/6. Or you can argue Lopez and Anderson have made “tremendous or moderate” progress, but that’s open to interpretation.

Tell that to Terry Ryan, who built the #1 farm system from 2014-16 and formed the teams that reached the playoffs from 2002-2004, 2006, 2009 and 2010. Ryan stepped down in 2007 but returned in 2011 after hand-picked successor Bill Smith could not continue the team's success. The Twins are in the middle of their fifth losing season in the last six years. A 2015 season that saw them return to contention in the division proved not to be enough when the team sank to the bottom of the American League this summer. Ryan handed out big money to pitchers Ervin Santana, Ricky Nolasco and Phil Hughes in an effort to address the team's biggest weakness in the starting rotation, but all have been disappointments. The decisions to sign South Korean slugger Byung Ho Park, hold on to veteran third baseman Trevor Plouffe this offseason and move promising youngster Miguel Sano from third base to right field all proved to be ill-fated. Sano was injured while playing in the outfield and is back at third base, Plouffe is on the disabled list and his trade value has been diminished and Park has been sent to Triple-A to try to ease his transition from Korea to the United States.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/04/opinions/democrats-focus-on-stopping-trump-in-midterm-opinion-zelizer/index.html Uniting around issues both wings of the Democratic Party agree upon is the key to stopping Trump https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/05/democrats-2020-presidential-fight-netroots-762479 2020 Dem. presidential primary gets an early rehearsal at NetRoots Reddy, opinions on Chris Murphy? In a reminder of how quickly a star can rise, perhaps no politician elicited more excitement this weekend than Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a nearly anonymous figure before her upset victory in a House primary in New York in June. Julián Castro, who followed Ocasio-Cortez on stage, acknowledged that he had been overshadowed. “I have to go after Alexandria?” the former San Antonio mayor and Obama Cabinet secretary joked. As he started speaking, the crowd immediately began to thin.

Kushner’s depressed value/infamous 666 Building finally “sells,” was purchased for $1.8 billion, had a balloon debt payment for $1.1 billion due in January of next year https://money.cnn.com/2018/08/03/news/companies/kushner-666-fifth-avenue-brookfield/index.html Kushner Cos. has ceded complete control of the office portion of 666 Fifth Ave. to a Brookfield fund through a 99-year lease. No pricing was available, but the rent was front-loaded so there will be no ongoing payments to Kushner. The family will retain its offices in the building, sources tell The Post. But the pricing and upfront payment has also enabled the family company to pay off the remaining — and looming — debt of $1.1 billion and buy out its 49.5 percent partner, Vornado Realty Trust, for a previously agreed $120 million. Vornado, however, will continue to own another retail condominium portion of the building as does Inditex, the Spanish parent of Zara. As The Post previously reported, Brookfield intends to remake the 1957 aluminum-clad office tower with low dropped ceilings into a modern edifice, more enticing to today’s tech tenancies and along the lines of its dramatic reinvention of 5 Manhattan West. https://nypost.com/2018/08/03/kushner-companies-unloads-666-fifth-ave-to-brookfield/amp/

Why would now be the right time for Mike Scioscia to walk away? He’s human, after all. We all need to take a step back from time to time, take a breath and assess our future. For Scioscia, who’s in the final year of a 10-year, $50 million contract and turns 60 in November, there would be no time like the present. Rosenthal adds that Scioscia’s decision to not pursue a new contract would be his own. The Angels have reportedly put no pressure on Scioscia to make a decision one way or the other. For what it’s worth, Scioscia tells ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez that his status hasn’t changed. For now anyway, we won’t get a clearer picture of Scioscia’s future beyond Rosenthal’s report. Who could be managerial options for the Angels in 2019? Rosenthal threw out several possibilities in his report in the event Scioscia does move on. Among them were three internal candidates. Most notably, former Detroit Tigers manager Brad Ausmus was mentioned. He currently serves as a special assistant to general manager Billy Eppler. Former major leaguers Eric Chavez, who’s another Eppler assistant, and Josh Paul, Scioscia’s current bench coach, were also listed. Former New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi will find himself atop the wishlist of every team seeking a manager this season. He’s already seen as a candidate for the St. Louis Cardinals opening. This will be Billy Eppler’s first time in charge of hiring a manager. That makes it difficult to predict how the process will go or which direction he’ll look. https://sports.yahoo.com/report-angels-manager-mike-scioscia-step-following-2018-season-032841616.html Still younger than Maddon, would be interesting to have mentor and protege back together in one town...Maddon talks about 2002 WS Angels’ team like it was “his” in interviews.

We already tried this a month ago, at the ASB.

How many Astros came from sign and dump guys? They probably had more going out...due to roster backlogs. Too many good poisition players at each level to hold onto all of them. Just imagine if they had Bryant AND JD Martinez added to that monster team. Grossman, Domingo Santana, Preston Tucker, Singleton, all would have had homes with this year’s White Sox team. Same with the Cubs in 2011-13...who else did they trade that still held ANY value, besides Starling Castro?

Gary Sheffield? Fun to dream, I guess...

https://www.milb.com/milb/news/chicago-white-sox-prospect-dylan-cease-extends-scoreless-streak/c-288901754 Cease hype train continues...

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/americans-buying-rabid-pro-trump-conspiracy-theories-120653906.html More QAnon conspiracies...

Only 1.5 up on the Padres now...

First time they got two wins/road win in a couple months... Narvaez, Jesus Christo, you have to stop that ball from getting through. Vieira’s first career save? 94-98 mph, probably averaged 95.5...and Rodon somehow survived with an 89-92 mph fastball right out of the shoot and gutted through it.

Strike out swinging....what baserunner just got hit by the ball, Leury or Moncada? Guess it was Hulka.

That bunt would have overthrown a government. Farmer with a Benetti-ism. Madrigal two hits tonight now. And a walk. Pitching around Moncada again? Hmmm....

Anderson managed to reach down and find two extra gears tonight... Still have so many players with terrible bunting fundamentals, stabbing at it will never work except to pop up, but third time’s a charm I guess?

Who was the one who moved Eaton to RF and Sale out of the bullpen?

One thing is certain...having four lower budget teams (with Ilitch passing) makes Hahn’s ultimate task of returning to the postseason far easier to pull off than in any other division in baseball. We don’t have to worry about being outspent or compete with another ascending team (see Braves/Phillies together in NL East). You would say downright impossible to fail until you study the complete history of the franchise...but even that mindset can be broken (Maddon/Epstein).

That’s the big IF (the 3rd would be an elite closer or praying for Burdi)....those are three $50-150 million dollar acquisitions right there off the bat that many expected would come THIS offseason. Let’s just say $250-300 million in new spending. Will JR commit? What happens when either Arenado or Rendon extend with their current teams? We always say it should be easy to find someone for this position or that, but it absolutely hasn’t been a piece of cake since 2006 onwards to make those slam dunk acquisitions.