caulfield12

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 17, 2018 -> 09:35 PM) Trump now bragging about scoring a 30 on his cognitive test. The actual test is all over the Internet, if he is bragging about getting a 30.... Arguing you're smarter than either Obama (Occidental/Columbia/Harvard) or Clinton (Yale/Georgetown) is not going to be a winner for Trump. Not with all those analyses showing his average vocabulary level from hundreds of thousands of transcripts of public comments pegs him at a 3rd or 4th grade range. At this point, he's not even in the same neighborhood as GW Bush or Gerald Ford. Republicans’ no-win choice: Dreamers or defense The government shutdown threat is forcing the party to choose between maintaining a hard line on immigration or spending more on the military. https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/17/r...shutdown-345438 No visas for low-skilled Haitians announced https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-administra...-003323875.html

Iowa sucks. Trounced at Rutgers. For the first time under McCaffrey, the direction of the needle is clearly backwards. Didn't think losing Jok and the back-up PG (Christian Williams) transferring would have such a huge impact. Really need to make the NCAA's next year. Missed it by one game last year, this year they won't even make the NIT.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Jan 17, 2018 -> 05:06 PM) one of the absolute dumbest tropes in baseball scouting. There isn't a single scout in any other pro sport that thinks guys will slow down as they add muscle. That's just something out of like 1960 thinking. As if they are just training biceps! Come on. Sosa went from a similar physique (shorter/less rangy) to Luis Robert to a tank, but adding bulk/strength due to steroids is quite different than "fast twitch" leg muscles... Robert, fwiw, mostly played the corners due to the composition of his Cuban team. There's always going to be a difference between "quick first step" and then "fast after getting up to full speed" (see Avi Garcia)...some athletes have both qualities, but it's fairly rare. Heck, even Usain Bolt usually doesn't get a great jump out of the starter's block, and he was the fastest runner of his generation. Whether Moncada, Saladino, Anderson, Leury Garcia or Robert is the fastest Sox runner, there are so many different ways of measuring it. Home to first. 40/50/60 on a track or workout speed with running shoes and a starter's block or standing start? Baseball conditions, with spikes? Home to 3rd? 1st to home? Then there are all those modern statcast trackers of speed to a ball in the outfield. My personal feeling is that he's a 70 or 75...and is likely to maintain at least 70 speed, at the minimum.

If you were dealing Anderson, you’d have to play Leury there or sign Andrus, too...

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jan 16, 2018 -> 08:51 PM) But look at Dwight in the new NBA (or current NBA). Part of that is Dwight was never the same (post Orlando) but his skill set has failed to change the game long-term. I do think a legit low post threat who can be a beast back to the basket player, could change the dynamic in this NBA (because so few guys would be capable of guarding them). Shaq would be insane in this NBA (outside of his inability to hit free throws). The counter to that would be defensively what would other teams do. Would be interesting to see. Howard lost so much of his explosiveness over the last 2-3 years because of all the injuries. Maybe a better example would be Sean Kemp in his prime...or Amar'e Stoudamire. Maybe Blake Griffin. Millsap and Draymond Green don't really fit.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jan 16, 2018 -> 08:34 PM) No he isn't. He may be better than Sanchez, but by how much? I see absolutely zero reason to acquire him. Harrison has averaged a 3 war over a four year period. If you take into consideration the cost, and his salary, and that he's already 30 (thought he was 28 or 29)...it's probably not worth it. Of course, he had one season with well over a 5 war, which we all know Sanchez is never going to put up. If you eliminate that 5.3 from his last four years, he's a 2.2 or 2.3 war guy coming from the NL over to the AL (so that's pretty close to what you'd expect from Sanchez, I suppose). I believe there's definitely a value to having a player coming from a team with a winning tradition and playoff experience, but, overall, probably not worth the acquisition cost at the moment.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Jan 16, 2018 -> 10:05 PM) he had 28 walks (three of those IBB) in 40 and 2/3 innings in his last MLB action in 2016 with the Rockies. Who says you can't walk to Japan? We need another Miguel Cleto just for entertainment purposes. 1/20 becomes a Kahnle.

Apparently, his cholesterol is moderately high (pretty big jump for one year), BMI is borderline obese, BP is fine...something like a 13% likelihood of having a heart attack in the next ten years, and his 30/30 on the cognitive test. Trump has survived the 25th Amendment rumors, for the time being. https://finance.yahoo.com/video/amount-amer...-160749977.html Why the Amount of Americans With No Insurance Is Growing

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 16, 2018 -> 06:54 PM) I liked him from jump. From college to that euro tournament or whatever you call it before the season started. His skillset is tailor-made for modern nba basketball. And I wasn't wrong on KP. When healthy, he's a two-way terror. But he's dinged up a lot. And his stamina isn't the greatest at times. But his skills at that size? Yes. Generational. So what's your reading on Doncic, then?

Birmingham would be crazy aggressive. I think he definitely starts in Kanny to get his feet wet and build some confidence, unless he just totally blows everyone away in camp and ends up at Winston-Salem. Let's not forget we heard the same things about Viciedo as a 19 year old, and, while he did reach the big leagues in just two years, it took him a good 3+ years in the minors before he broke into the line-up as a regular LFer. Of course, part of that was all the position changes, 3B/1B/LF/RF.

What did they say it was? The Wolff book puts him at 236, if I recall correctly...but best estimates are the 270 pound range.

18:$10M, 19:$10.5M club option ($1M buyout), 20:$11.5M club option ($0.5M buyout) Josh Harrison's exactly the kind of winning player the White Sox need...but not sure about the asking price. Would much rather leverage assets at the minor league level for a relatively younger player than overpaying for vets in their 30's (unless you're talking Machado/Harper/Arenado as FA's, who are anomalies).

Might want to separate LUIS Robert and Rutherford...

Well, Sheets, Gonzalez, Adolfo, Stephens and Burdi are all in that vicinity as prospects...some higher, some lower. Pretty hard to make any conclusive statements because of the ast differences in the systems. The guys we got from the Royals for Cabrera were in the 10-20 range for them (Puckett and Davis) but might not even be Top 30 now for us. Or compare those two with Clarkin and Polo, who some have in our mid teens.

Trump apparently didn’t feel so discriminating about Haiti that he was unwilling to take money from the Haitian treasury through a money laundering scheme concocted by former dictator Baby Doc Duvalier. Note the financial ties to Russia beginning even in the 1980’s.. According to the Buzzfeed News report, the Haitian government complained in the 1980s that former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier laundered money stolen from the Caribbean nation’s treasury by purchasing an apartment in Trump Tower. Duvalier, nicknamed “Baby Doc,” was overthrown in 1986, but three years earlier used a Panamanian shell company called Lasa Trade and Finance to buy apartment 54-K in Trump’s Manhattan tower for $446,875 cash. Federal prosecutors charged a Russian native in 1984 with laundering the proceeds from a gasoline bootlegging operation through five Trump Tower condos purchased for $4.9 million. David Bogatin pleaded guilty in 1987 and served eight years in federal prison. http://www.nationalmemo.com/haiti-accuses-...y-doc-duvalier/

I think The Post just might win the Oscar ... not ordinarily, but because of the current political climate.

Dyson, arguably...

The diversity visa program has been around for more than 20 years, offering a limited number of visas to people from parts of the world that have relatively few immigrants in the United States. Schumer did play a key role in drawing up the program in 1990. His proposals eventually became part of a broader immigration package that was passed by Congress in a bipartisan vote and signed into law by a Republican president, George H.W Bush. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning...m=.1212ee22369c Sen. Jeff Flake (twitter) Actually, the Gang of 8, including @SenSchumer, did away with the Diversity Visa Program as part of broader reforms. I know, I was there...In fact, had the Senate Gang of 8 bill passed the House, it would have ended the Visa Lottery Program AND increased merit based visas. For DV-2017, natives of the following countries are not eligible to apply, because more than 50,000 natives of these countries immigrated to the United States in the previous five years: Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam. Please note that the term "50,000 immigrants" includes only those people who immigrated via the family-based (including immediate relatives of U.S. citizens) or employment-based immigration categories. It does not include other categories such as refugees, asylum seekers, NACARA beneficiaries, or previous diversity immigrants. Therefore, even though the countries like Cuba, Ukraine, Russia, Iran and Ethiopia sent more than 50,000 immigrants in previous five years, they are still in the list of eligible countries. https://www.immihelp.com/green-card-lottery...-countries.html

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jan 15, 2018 -> 11:45 PM) I don't disagree strongly, but generally speaking, I do think we still need flippables to collect assets. BA and Razzball both summarized our system by saying "strong up top; sharp decline after 10 or 15," and I tend to agree. I think there's room for collection all the way up until the first "compete" year. Another good question is how much is "first half 2017" Leury Garcia actually worth? It's hard to imagine either 3B exploding because of their various limitations. Or Delmonico, Cordell and Tilson...? Will they try to flip Castillo or do they want him around for 2019 as well? The biggest wild card in every scenario (contending in 2019) right now is Carlos Rodon, then Tim Anderson...followed closely by Giolito/Lopez/Fulmer. Finally, final decisions on Abreu/Avi Garcia.

QUOTE (Tony @ Jan 15, 2018 -> 11:28 PM) This is the point that the "anti-rebuild" folks can't seem to grasp. Yes, we are rooting for losses in 2017 and 2018. Yes, spending money right now is foolish. Yes, acquiring as many prospects as possible is vital. But it's all for this. None of us are going to give the front office a pass if they miss out on some mega free agents, and don't spend big when the time comes. 72 wins will not be acceptable in 2020-2025. Yes, because it's going to be important to choose at least one collegiate player in 2018 or 2019 with those two higher first round picks that can reasonably be expected to contribute to the second half of the "competitive window." Right now, the Cubs, because they started at least one year early, have had 3 opportunities and would seem to have that wide open window through 2020, and likely 2021. That's 6-7 years, and then they could always add Bryce Harper, but their starting rotation, bullpen and Heyward contract would probably really get in the way at that point. The opposite (market-wise) would be the Royals, with a late charge in 2013, World Series in 2014/15 and "competitive" teams in 2016 (injuries wiped out any realistic opportunity) and 2017. So, at the very least, you're shooting for AT LEAST 4 years, if not 5-6. 2020-2024, with the possibility of that whole path being expedited to 2019 if Moncada, Jimenez, Kopech, Hansen and Robert explode on the scene earlier than projected and you sign all your free agent targets next offseason like we did with the Robertson/Cabrera/LaRoche class (obviously, you have to hit on them successfully this time).

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 15, 2018 -> 11:07 PM) The Chicago White sox have put themselves in a position where they 100% ought to be able to deal with the Garcia and Abreu situations AND add Machado, and frankly add Kimbrel, if that's what they want to do. That was the point of this. They should be very disappointed if they fail in this. They have 0 bad contracts. They should have >$130 million to spend. The White Sox have the most young talent in major league baseball, without any serious second place contender. The White Sox have 0 bad contracts after James Shields is gone. The White Sox have 10+ contenders for the 3-4 positions that aren't filled by a top 20 in MLB prospect. This team is F***ing loaded right now. It needs time for these guys to develop and to filter out some of the chaff. That's the point of this year. Filter it down, decide on 2-3 targets for this offseason, then go win 205 games in 2019 and 2020 combined. There's no reason why we can't do that other than cowardice. And old way of doing business would certainly be going after Donaldson or Beltre for 3B, and getting either of them 2-3 years too late for a much lower price than the first tier talent, then having them completely fall apart in 2020. We paid fair market value for Dunn, LaRoche, Cabrera and Robertson (at the time, it seemed a slight overpay, the market has come back to make it look more reasonable)...so something like Machado OR Harper AND a closer seems like the play, at least at the current moment. Getting Arenado for 2020 would be fine, too. Depending on what happens with Abreu, there's always a chance you go bargain shopping for a DH (like the Indians tried with Encarnacion) close to the downside of his career. Nelson Cruz would be the prime example, based on the numbers he's put up in that huge stadium (yet one feels he has to be close to that career cliff). And then hopefully Rodon picks a clear direction in his career so that we know what we have going into next year. Affording a Harper/Machado/Arenado, ace closer AND a frontline starter would be something that only the Cubs could pay for at one time. The Cubs really lucked out last year getting Wade Davis for a bargain deal (in retrospect) but now they're in a bit of a quandary.

For the millionth time in the last year, BREAK THE INTERNET would be used by sports editors around the world if Harper signed with the White Sox. I'm almost starting to think that would make a lot more sense from a PR/marketing standpoint, that extra $75-125 million that Harper will receive (as long as he stays healthy in 2018)...Machado really had a struggle for half of 2017, plus there's the issue of him playing SS over 3B. With the White Sox, he would have to play 3rd or that would mean they've given up on Tim Anderson, which carries the tiniest likelihood after they signed him to that long-term deal.

The Democrat Trumpworld fears most: In recent weeks, the president has been handicapping the prospective 2020 field and finding potential challengers wanting. https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/15/t...election-340623 Looks like Biden (carving out the Rust Belt voters Trump lost), Booker (strategists are divided on his run), Oprah and Mark Cuban are perceived to be the 4 biggest threats at the moment. Trump wants Sanders, Warren, Gillibrand or Harris.

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 couldn't imagine that would be enough of a threat (Cubs alone), unless the supplemental content was somehow combined with the Big10 network. After 2019, there SHOULD be a little bit of burnout with the Cubs only having a year or two left in their competitive window. That's another factor. Timing. Obviously Bryce Harper winning the 2019 NL MVP for the Cubs could change things, but it's hard to imagine anyone but either Harper or Kershaw moving the needle that much in terms of bumping UP Cubs' interest at that point. The Bears have their national rights deals, and there's simply not enough die-hard fans left until they can look like a playoff contender again. Plus, you have to split Iowa between the Chiefs, Vikings and Packers.

https://sports.yahoo.com/cubs-know-waiting-...-155434272.html Cubs know waiting for Bryce Harper and next winter's insane free-agent class is affecting baseball's offseason Are the White Sox better off going after Donaldson next off-season or Arenado after 2019? Interesting decisions to be made, because it seems like it's going to be almost impossible to land Machado...as that would fly in the face of allocating a large chunk of money instead of 3-4 major improvements simultaneously. Abreu/Avi situations need to be sorted. Blackmon would be attractive, but a five year deal seems risky if you're waiting on Luis Robert. Still, he might be the best "fall-back" outfield target after Harper. Cruz and McCutcheon are too old, and Jimenez is supposed to be the next Cruz, right? A.Miller/Britton/Cody Allen/Kimbrel, they're probably going to be overpaying for a closer (see Robertson in 2014) in all likelihood, although there's always a possibility Burdi or Lopez ends up doing the job internally. Andrus might be in play if Tim Anderson doesn't fully rebound....Beltre on a two year deal, but there's that huge risk you overpay so late in his career.