caulfield12

As it stands now, Abreu, Robertson and Fulmer are all worth significantly less than they were a year ago. Rodon hasn't made that big jump forward, either. Frazier's value is probably down a notch or two just by virtue of being one year older and due to his ugly BA. Cabrera had a very solid year but his contract of $15 million for essentially being a DH increasingly works against his value. Then the guys who have increased value, like Jones, Eaton and Anderson...we are unlikely to sell high on. Not to mention you have injury risk to mitigate as well with any pitcher. With Sale, it's even an increased risk that his general temperament issues will cause a non-throwing injury. Those are the risks as non-decisions erode values...kinda how they got into this mess in the first place between major league talent gap, minor league non-development and additional payroll/decreasing revenues pressure.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/04/opinions/imp...amar/index.html Clinton/Kaine/Dems would actually benefit from impeachment proceedings.... Also would have given Gore the presidency in 2000 had Bill stepped aside for 2-3 months and let him run things (arguably).

They didn't dye the river black in 2005, did they? Maybe I missed that.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/national-enquire...-012900281.html Poor Melania. Made a deal with the devil. Former Playmate Karen McDougal provided $150,000 by National Enquirer to keep story about ten month affair out of the press.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Nov 5, 2016 -> 01:33 PM) Make a poll on here and you'll see how many will admit to loving Hillary and the idea of 8 years of Hillary. We already went through this a week ago. The how much time have you spent reading over the bios and backgrounds of the third party candidates so far this election cycle? If you's devoted just 10% of the time you have to that rather than anti-Hillary speeches, you'd realize how lacking they are...not to mention Trump is actually gaining votes now from those wavering on Johnson and Stein, moreso than Clinton. None of them can win, so you're actually saying you want Trump more than Clinton if you push the third party option. It's kind of taking the easy road out...instead of choosing from one of the two win possibilities. It doesn't make sense to think Hillary's the devil and then not choose the likeliest probability for defeating or stopping her.

Beloved Hillary? Only two or three posters have come close to expressing anything resembling affection for her.

It's not like they were going to get talent returns for the likes of Zambrano, Soriano, Marmol and LeHair. Especially the first three, those were just huge black holes sucking up payroll.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Nov 5, 2016 -> 06:11 AM) Even President Obama is having trouble on the campaign trail in Fayetteville. http://www.vox.com/2016/11/5/13533468/trum...hoo&ref=yfp And the story of how he actually was defending a Trump heckler...very presidential of him, despite the temptation of going the easy route. It's getting to the point where people don't even take the time to watch the videos or first verify the validity of tweets/retweets (that don't fit their narratives) before posting them these days.

Guess the Cubs are going to be forced to trade Montero for 50-75 cents on the dollar... Probably Step 1 in the retooling on the fly process.

Dr. Strange was definitely a breath of fresh air, but won't resonate with everyone. Not sure where to place it in the overall pantheon. In the middle.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oc...ed-rape-lawsuit But it would be awesome for president-elect Trump's counsel to be compelled to NY district court on December 16th about the alleged rape of a 13 year old girl by Trump and Jeffrey Epstein? That will be a fun one to discuss with the kids.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Nov 4, 2016 -> 10:05 PM) It's amazing how you hear different stuff. CNN has Hillary winning in the landslide I predict. However ABC I think had it tied. Meanwhile, don't shoot the messenger, Hillary fans. But driving tonight I was listening to Hannity and he had a sheriff on blasting Hillary for his behavior in allegedly laughing while representing the guy who raped a 12 year old years ago and the 12 year old was brutally attacked. Is this some sort of bulls*** story or did Hillary really do this? Hannity was playing clips of Hillary laughing, etc., and the sheriff and victim were on and both attacked Hillary. If this story is true, how can you Hillary supporters even consider voting for her? I'm assuming there's a chance it's all true since Hannity spent his whole show on it. I mean, yes, Donald is disgusting, but how can anybody put an X next to Hillary Clinton's name? I also heard Larry the Cable Guy say the U.S. will fall apart completely if she is elected and has eight years to wreck things. So is it over? Will the USA become an utter disaster under Hillary like they say? http://www.cbsnews.com/news/hillary-clinto...5-rape-suspect/ So we're now to the point where no political candidate can laugh under any circumstances. If you're a lawyer, there are nuanced cases like this (often taken pro bono) where there's no clear right or wrong. If we jump to the conclusion that any man accused of rape is guilty without a trial and no female lawyer should ever defend someone accused of rape, where does that get us as a society? She wasn't laughing at the defendant or her client. Twitter's ability to allow posters to slant every situation through their own politicized lens is slowly eroding public discourse to the point where there's really no incentive to be honest, rational or even attempt to be objective anymore. And that does it. Larry The Cable Guy and Joe The Plumber are the only ones capable of really fixing this mess, getting under the hood and really giving our entire Federal government an overhaul.

It might be the first Word Series since 2001 where nobody complained about the late time the game finished....kids having to stay up too on a school night. The fact there is no timer in baseball is one factor. The game was over until that crazy wild pitch. When's the last time a runner scored from first on a single and two runners scored on the same wild pitch in a single game, let alone the span of minutes? Ross homer in his final game. The eighth inning. The Indians really should have won that game, with their best hitters in the bottom of the 9th, a struggling Chapman and then not scoring in the top half of the inning on the insane bunt try and Lindor play up the middle. The craziest thing would have been the game being restarted the next night....sudden death in prime time. But the weather gods giveth and taketh away. And at least it was guys like Zobrist, Montero, Edwards and Montgomery who will be remembered for that last inning.

1960 Pirates/Mazeroski 2001 Gonzalez/Rivera 1988 Gibson/Eckersley 1991 Twins/Braves..Puckett walkoff homer previous game Joe Carter/Mitch Williams...92 or 93 We can safely say it was probably the best in the last ten or fifteen years, and the tv interest going to 2001/04 levels backs that up on the historical significance side. It even beat 1985 Super Bowl for local....and barely lost out to Jordan's last championship game for the Bulls against Utah.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Nov 4, 2016 -> 02:12 PM) Not sure what the point is here, friend Balta made the point about pushing prospects up too quickly. Everyone (myself included) was concerned about the adverse consequences for Anderson...at any rate, he has become one of the keys to the future, but it still doesn't matter without a catcher, CFer, DH, fifth starter or dominating bullpen. On the pitching side, Fulmer obviously struggled, but at least they didn't force up Burdi as well just to give the fans someone to be excited about. We thus head into 2017 with the same long list of needs as 2016 but not nearly as many good fits...which will invariably force Collins, Burdi, Hansen, etc., to be put on expedited paths to the big leagues. This is especially the case with no major league catchers at the top of the pipeline. They're not going to give Kevan Smith the job unless they trade Sale and Quintana...which would likely return a defensively-gifted catcher anyway.

The thing is that Anderson and Morneau both produced beyond expectations and they weren't even close to the Indians without 3 of their Top 7-8 players. 1. Lindor 2. Kluber 3. Brantley 4. Miller 5. Kipnis 6. Salazar 7. Allen 8. Carrasco 9. Carlos Santana 10. Jose Ramirez

The White Sox have little chance (assuming payrolls stay the same or slightly less) without leveraging Sale and/or Quintana for packages like the Indians received for Bartolo Colon (Sizemore, Cliff Lee, Brandon Phillips). Basically, you've got to get at least TWO regulars that are 2.5-3.5 WAR (or more) for that one player, if not three. Otherwise, it doesn't make any sense. Greinke for Cain/Alcides Escobar is yet another example. The Cubs' main risks will be in the bullpen (do they go after Jansen or give the job back to Rondon/Strop/Edwards?)...and the health of the starting rotation, whether Hendricks can sustain his success (expecting another ERA title is foolhardy), but they have numerous plausible ways to cushion the back end of the rotation by trading spare parts and/or adding salary in June/July trades. They absolutely don't have to do much more than target 90-93 wins to outlast the Cards/Pirates, who are both in transitional phases (the Cardinals just cut loose Holliday, the Pirates have to decide what to do with McCutcheon and already traded Melancon). Obviously, their target next season will be 105+ wins, with Arrieta possibly in his last season and Lester perhaps in his final "prime" season before his career arc turns downwards again. Assuming they let Arrieta go after 2017, there are a number of decent options on the FA pitching market, compared to this year. The other danger is losing key front office personnel like Hoyer, McLeod, Randy Bush or Shiraz Rehman, but those guys aren't irreplaceable...every aspiring young baseball exec in the industry would die to work for the World Champion Cubs (for free or even pay for the privilege) and learn under the mentoring of Epstein/Maddon, etc.

http://thefieldsofgreen.com/2014/10/02/how...mlb-franchises/ This is a 2014 article that puts the additional value of making the post-season at $20-30 million. Just for FOX Sports alone, it was estimated at $20 million for advertising revenues. So you've got: Substantial Increase in Franchise Valuation, by a factor of 10-15% if not a 25% increase overall The looming ability to borrow against values derived from a windfall broadcasting rights deal $35-50 million from the post-season appearance, additional season ticket sales, merchandising/concessions Entertainment Complex will start generating revenues Settling of the rooftops issue, to a large extent They're not far from a point where they will have a Cubs Hall of Fame museum or statue park with Fergie Jenkins, Maddux, Sandberg, etc., statues soon to come. Maddon and Epstein under contract into the future, two of the best in the game. “Got through the tough times,” Epstein said, and he started talking about when, in his first year, the Cubs took out a full-page ad in a newspaper trying to sell individual-game tickets, accidentally transposed two digits in the 1-800 number listed and ended up sending prospective customers to a phone-sex line. Ricketts laughed. Those were the old Cubs. Today they could call themselves champions. Early in the game, two fans sitting near Epstein were harassing him and his family. He asked them to stop. They refused. He summoned security. Before being escorted out, a woman doused Epstein and his son with a cup of beer. “He made sure I knew right away it wasn’t about one person,” Ricketts said. “It was about the organization. We talked about how you treat people and the right people will create success. It takes time. It won’t come overnight. He’s honest with everybody everywhere he goes. He’s also not in any way some kind of crazy dictator,” Ricketts said. “He just leads the right way. What I realized early on is the quantitative stuff is there, but that’s not a key. The key for him is hiring the right people and helping them get to the right decisions. And each of those decisions is what built this team.” http://sports.yahoo.com/news/how-theo-epst...-155257017.html

https://www.yahoo.com/news/clintons-primeti...-090002058.html Clintons prime time soap opera reaching its finale?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 3, 2016 -> 03:55 PM) If you want to argue that $30ish million in free money doesn't make a difference to the Cubs, go ahead and play with that ball. If the original poster has some actual knowledge of the dollar difference involved here, I would like to know it. http://www.bleachernation.com/2014/03/19/t...business-plans/ Look at debt and required service payments about halfway down. Worst case scenario (and it's financially prudent, regardless) is that $30-35 million causes them to pass on an Arrieta extension. It's actually in their favor to use that financial prudence argument with fans, like the Cardinals with Pujols. Between 2019 (tv rights money blows up), anticipated increase in franchise value, the entertainment complex and most of the rooftop stuff being over, they won't have to worry about anything other than allocating money efficiently (see Epstein's bad deals in Boston, the Yankees, Pujols/Hamilton/Wilson/Weaver/Vernon Wells with the Angels and now the Dodgers with their current owners and multi billion dollar tv deal). It's not going to be what derails them. That would be major pitching injuries or non performance, not unlike the White Sox dealt with...remember, they had McCarthy as an "extra starter" in 2006 after Javy was added and eventually dealt him for Danks. Between Schwarber, Russell, Baez, Contreras, Almora, Soler, Edwards Jr....they have plenty of young position player depth to deal from. Unless the Pirates can pressure them, they won't have to win 100+ games every season, either. They also don't have another owner in the division like Ilitch in the AL Central creating additional/artificial competition with elevated payrolls.

Very simple. 11-1 vs. 11-6. Although they can argue back the historical nature of the comeback and one of the best and most memorable Game 7's in the last thirty or forty years. Adjusted for tv sets available compared to 2005 or 1995, some of the highest tv ratings as well...that eclipsed the NFL regular season again for the first time in a long while.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Nov 3, 2016 -> 03:01 PM) I gotta agree with Captain here. From everything I've read the payroll concerns on the N. Side have been vastly over stated and probably emerged mostly out of the wake of the Wilbon's exposure in the Maddon ponzi scheme. Is Rickets the most liquid and well financed owner in MLB? Nah, probably not even close. But the asset he's sitting on just probably increased it's value by 15-30%. If he wants to leverage that into a higher payroll I'd imagine he'll find a way. It didn't stop them from quickly building the best team in MLB so how the hell is it an issue going forward now that Rickets just turned the Cubs into a money tree? If they weren't before, they sure as s*** are now. Not to mention the potential collateral of that Cubs' Network...see McCourts with the Dodgers trying to separate out just the parking rights and borrow against that from future anticipated revenues. Then you've got the forthcoming mint known as the entertainment complex that will print additional money.

Yeah, in 2003 or so I would have been livid. Now it's a bregrudging respect for the Cubs doing things right and following their plan to a T...investing in Latin America, investing in one of the best managers in the game and a gaggle of top-notch front office people. I would have hated Ricketts back then as well...the feeling today is more one of happiness for the sport of baseball and its future, but less and less about the White Sox. In fact, it has made me realize how much I still love the game, and also why following the likes of Yasiel Puig or rooting for the small market Royals or this season the Indians whenever the White Sox were already eliminated provided enough motivation to keep the flames burning in terms of cherishing the sport and its long history that is unlike any other.

QUOTE (knightni @ Nov 3, 2016 -> 05:53 AM) They had The Rock (who is half Polynesian) and a Native Hawaiian girl in the main parts. Why should it be controversial? http://reagancoalition.com/articles/2016/p...ooks-obese.html

Yeah, The Accountant wasn't a bad action flick at all. Y2Jimmy has said enough...just not so sure about needing a gun that's essentially an anti-aircraft weapon, that was overdoing it just a bit. http://www.metacritic.com/pictures/novembe...-preview?ref=hp FINALLY SOME PROMISING MOVIES TO LOOK FORWARD TO AS NOVEMBER HITS Allied (movie everyone's claiming was start of Pitt/Cotillard fling or non-fling) Miss Sloane, Moana (somewhat controversial animation film because of the S.Pacific ethnicity portrayed), Arrival (it's officially AMY ADAMS MONTH), Loving, Manchester By the Sea (Affleck Brothers cleaning up) and Nocturnal Animals (more Adams) all look like potential Academy Award nominees. Rules Don't Apply looks interesting. You've ALSO got a Mel Gibson pic about a WWII conscientious object/medic (back to his Catholic roots again), Dr. Strange is getting very good reviews despite the lack of an Asian cast, the Harry Potter prequel Fantastic Beasts (am a bit tired of Eddie Redmayne at the moment) and another possible breakout comedy with Hailee Stanfield/Woody Harrelson (The Edge of Seventee).