caulfield12

QUOTE (daggins @ Dec 11, 2016 -> 09:58 PM) I love the idea of signing Mr Handsome, Colby Rasmus. He seems like a good bet to bounce back and have a decent year. He'll never strike out less than ~30% but he can field and has some power. Good candidate to flip. He might not want to play for Nadir Sox though. I think Q does end up going to Houston, although I could see the Cardinals being strong bidders. I think once Turner signs with the Dodgers, Dombrowski and Hahn hook up again to send Frazier to Boston. Robertson goes to the Nats I think. Not sure what his market looks like. CF Tilson RF Coats/Avi LF Rasmus DH Melky 1B Abreu 3B Lawrie SS Anderson 2B C. Sanchez C Hanigan or trade IF Saladino OF May or Engel C Narvaez Rodon Gonzalez Shields Covey Holland or trade Jones Jennings Putnam Petricka Brian Clark Ynoa Minaya/Kahnle That should be good for 60 wins or so, accounting for any deadline moves. I think you mean Holland as a reliever, if Robertson is gone?

I'd go $5-7 million for a Carter or Alvarez, but would rather spend that money on someone like Rasmus that could competently play the field. Would also like to firm up that outfield by making sure Cabrera and Avi Garcia don't undermine the confidence of the young pitching staff too much. Not sure they would consider Austin Jackson again, but someone similar. With Tilson, we just don't know much about where his hamstring injury is right now...whether it's going to be fine or he'll lose a step or two, which would dent his value to the Sox defensively.

It seems "surplus value" calculators are pretty hard to utilize unless that prospect's in AA or AAA...and, even then, if you were to go back over the last 20-30 years of BA Top 100 lists and see how many of those prospects lived up to their original "surplus value" calculations, it would be WAY OFF if you compared projections and reality. It might give you some type of rough estimation at the time of the trade (who won, who lost the deal, from an immediate/instant reaction standpoint)...

What's the asking price for Pedro Alvarez right now, or did he already sign? Wonder if there's any interest in a Chris Carter reunion? Lefties, generally, have more value from a hitting perspective. I don't know if they can "time" it to sell high on Robertson in June/July and then give the closer's job to Jones and have him increase his value the 2nd half of the season or into next early next year as Burdi perhaps works into that position (depending on how the starting experiment goes) by mid-season 2018. Guess it depends on how strongly they believe in Jones' ability as a closer...if they can leverage that for even a higher return or if he's better suited to his 7th/8th inning set-up role. Then you also have to consider the "value" of shaving $6-8 million more off the remaining money owed to Robertson by trading him now.

The irony is that dictators (even in a democracy like the Phils) usually start out with huge popularity and almost all of the people behind them...so, despite viewing the drug killings/vigilante-ism from a Western perspective, that doesn't mean that there isn't a large majority supporting the strong man approach to the problem. That said, Leni Robredo (VP, she's from another party, as the Pres/VP aren't elected together, she narrowly beat Marcos' son) has resigned from the position and is trying to lead an opposition party against Duterte, but she's already being attacked for being a high society/social climber/1%er and not really connected to the needs of everyday people, either. People want action...not talk. Something concrete (see Trump/Carrier/union negotiations) or at least the perception that someone is fighting for THEM.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Dec 11, 2016 -> 06:59 PM) You know that screams Kenny. Calling PTAC....3, 2, 1 It's intellectually not quite honest to just attribute all the bad moves by a team to one official and the "good" moves to another. Sure, before last week, you had Eaton for Santiago, the Sale/Q/Eaton extensions (didn't reinvent the wheel, but good job) and then Abreu (was that Paddy/KW or Hahn). Unless you're blaming KW for every single veteran brought in since Adam Dunn in 2011 and you believe Hahn had no voice/say that whole time even though his salary was the highest (supposedly) for any Assistant GM in the game...let's also not forget that Hahn was the name all over the press with the Cabrera, Robertson and LaRoche signings. Did KW put a gun to his head? Or Jeff Keppinger?

Not sure what to make of that previous comment. Sing Street, Elle (that's DEFINITELY not a date movie!)...would love to see them get Best Picture nominations, Sing Street might have an outside shot but they usually prefer to go with movies like Sully or Arrival that had better box office #'s/public recognition unless the critical appreciation is just about impossible to overlook. Loving is another movie in that category. It seems LA LA Land and Moonlight for sure will be there, despite Moonlight's lack of visibility. Another fascinating movie was The Invitation, which came out much earlier in the year and has been mostly forgotten.

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/12/10/will-amazon...&yptr=yahoo Will Amazon Go replace jobs? "I don't think we can stop it," author says.

If Anderson can continue to play that type of defense, it's worth 2-2.5 war alone. On the list of Sox problems, he's not in the Top Ten.

http://www.espn.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/...yone-is-smarter Winning is harder when everyone is smarter...teams like Red Sox, Nationals and M's have to go bold

http://www.espn.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/...r-jose-quintana Put this here because more and more articles are coming out theorizing the White Sox could compete theoretically as early as this season...by keeping Quintana.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/karl-rove-critic...-171151385.html Karl Rove rips Trump for Boeing comments.... Trump posted his initial tweet about Boeing just after a story featuring the company's CEO was published. In the Chicago Tribune article, CEO Dennis Muilenburg expressed concerns about Trump's trade policies.

After reading the Baumann piece, I think we shouldn't forget or fall asleep on Dunning, Adams, Danish, Stephens, Guerrero, etc. Think back to 2000. Three finesse pitchers in Buehrle, Fogg and Garland succeeded. You could add Bradford as well. Almost all of the power arms busted or got injured. In the classes preceding that, you had Sirotka, Snyder and Parque. We always fall in love with the guys who throw in the high 90's with ace potential, but the Sox have done better with Q and Danks types. Sale is the only truly dominant lockdown starter they've developed in ages.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/estate-tax-r...-100000422.html Estate tax, it gone. The part that really rankles is the GOP sales job. Only 3% of the examples studied in a recent year effect family farms or caused small businesses to be split up. You'd think it was closer to 50% listening to the debates over the last two decades. And this is only 2/10ths of 1% of the richest estates in America with over $5.45-10.9 million (single/couple) in assets. In 1999/2000, the bottom was around $675-725,000. Small wonder that Clinton was balancing the budget then...but also capital gains at 20% Those are next to go. Fiscal responsibility...who cares anymore, right?

Bae is a Korean name/word to boot. Adoption, declined!!

Yeah, demotivated those with Clinton Fatigue and on the fence...equally motivated Trump supporters/GOP base. That said, she gave up completely on talking about policy. She could never articulate why either free trade benefitted flyover territory or what the Democrats were going to do to actually help those middle and lower middle class blue collars who've been displaced the last 20-30 years. If you look at some recent articles, at least 25% of Dems are convinced for the moment (largely due to the "Carrier win") that Trump actually will help American workers, or at least fight for them. http://www.kxly.com/news/opinion-michigans...aradox/42740108 It has been written 100 different ways, but this "Springsteen Paradox" makes about as much sense as anything

It's nearly impossible to present a scenario where they competed with the rest of the AL with the likes of Beltran and Fowler getting the money they did. I suppose you could at least argue Trumbo, Bautista or EE at DH would give you a puncher's chance...but who was going to play center and catch? What about Shields? Can you count on Gonzalez to be another 2.5 war guy? Rodon to put it together for a full season? Anderson to improve? Saladino and Lawrie at 2b? Were they simply going to rush Burdi and Collins to fill in holes? What happens when/if Sale, Eaton or Q get/got injured in the process of finishing with 75-83 wins and they're still stuck with another mid teens draft pick?

I'd give Benetti two more years...otherwise, I might think about moving him to radio and retiring Farmer.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/preparing-white-...--politics.html Wouldn't it be easier to just name Medvedev as Secretary of State? Green again...theoretically.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Dec 10, 2016 -> 05:10 PM) Could be...but I think that was just his bs excuse for not moving Bregman. If it is about 2017, I agree with someone else who said toss in Gonzalez for all we care. Fiers and McHugh are both on the roster, right? Obviously, McCullers is the big wild card with that staff living up to expectations. They could have gone with the likes of Rich Hill, Cashner or Volquez, for example.

Feels like the Pirates are better off trading Cutch eventually and reloading/bridging rather than making a go for broke move...the risks are too high for them, and Q doesn't sell seats by the nature of his quiet effectiveness. The Rockies and Astros are going to be forced "all in" sooner or later by nature of the divisions they are in, while a team like the Braves can still take a more measured or careful approach. Who will be the GM like Beane with Shark in 2014 that cracks? Verlander, Greinke, Archer and Gray continue to be the likely competition (for Q), and the first two are out of the realm of possibility for all but 6-8 teams in baseball that simply don't want to give up their minor league stockpile and can simply afford to buy talent. IMO Duffy becomes a threat as a cheaper mid year rental. Will be interesting to watch it all play out. I'm sure we will be holding our breaths every game where Q is above 100 pitches. Thankfully, pragmatism for Renteria will win the day, but it will frustrate Jose to no end. Thankfully, he's had five full seasons to get acclimated to no decisions/lack of run support and also can see the light at the end of the tunnel in terms of a fresh start elsewhere. Have to hope and pray Q, Jones and Robertson stay healthy if we hold onto them into the regular season. Thankfully, the two biggest concerns in Sale and Eaton are already out the door, at least.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Dec 10, 2016 -> 10:43 AM) That's already the law, SS deductions are capped around there. In order to boost the solvency of the program, you can lift that cap or cut benefits. Gop has decided to cut benefits and sneak in additional tax cuts for the wealthy. Their Obamacare repeal bill does the same. Enrich the rich, cat food for everyone else. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/give-poor-mo...-135858208.html This is timely. Results of at least 19 studies showing poor people don't act in the ways stereotypically portrayed when provided with money (via microloans/govnt transfers, etc.) Of course, this will never come close to changing anyone's minds due to perception or "Self Serving" bias. We see what we want to see with poor people. And that covers all races and creeds, but particularly minorities in the inner city areas. Not too long from now, 25% of those men eligible to work from 25-54 will have been displaced by automation/made redundant. Not a great trend for the American family. And nice to for once see them thoughtful policy comments and suggestions at the bottom of the article. these "expert studies" let's give money directly to recipients instead of inserting large bureaucracy driven products in between. For example, let's give everyone money for health care directly, in health insurance accounts and let them choose how to spend it. You yourself say that they will do so wisely. Same with housing payments, whatever. We will save gazillions by eliminating wasteful programs and government workers. Of course, you could just as easily say get rid of the health insurance industry, too. And the problem with school voucher or medical savings account problems isn't the idea itself...it's when the gap between what they pay out and what individuals need to come up with based on income levels is simply unrealistic or irrational for families. I can get a voucher for $10,000 to send my son to the best private school, but coming up with $40,000 myself when the cost is going to be $50,000 in total probably doesn't make sense. Heck, lots of families are already making the argument that the costs of a university education outside of particular areas like STEM are just not worth it in terms of helping their children pay for college/university. Finally, looking at microloan programs like Grameen, the biggest problem (in the third world) is for profit banks getting involved in copying the idea while simply jacking up the rates to usury levels. Of course, payday loans or cash for check schemes are the same issue for the working poor in America.

That's the one where nobody in America pays SS tax on income over $108,000 or $116,000...? This just sounds like political suicide. Since the market has blown up since the election, they'll probably revisit privatizing for workers under 30, conveniently overlooking what would have happened to all those accounts three years after the last GOP attempt by Bush in 2005.

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/...l-security.html Is the GOP crazy enough to go after Social Security? Wanted to get that back up before Russian hackers protecting Trump attack SoxTalk servers again. Green. I hope.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Dec 9, 2016 -> 10:47 AM) Honestly, a President even openly musing or trying to pre-justify prison camps for Muslims in the year 2016 should be grounds for impeachment. eta: or when he calls for the execution of people who were exonerated by DNA evidence years after their exoneration, which got surprisingly less coverage than EMAILS OMG EMAILS this year. As far as the first part goes, he has some cover if Europe splinters apart and the right takes over...and every country is essentially formulating their own policies regarding migrants/refugees. Especially if Merkel's govnt falls, France goes to the le Pens, Netherlands and Belgium, etc.