caulfield12

You and Southsider2k5 are going to write-in Ventura and Romney...pretty incredible. I honestly might prefer Trump to Ventura, although it's a close call.

Sale is not close to winning...but we can continue to live in the imaginary universe where 45+ voting sportswriters (still the majority of the BBWAA) follow sabre stats more than traditional ones.

QUOTE (miracleon35th @ Sep 30, 2016 -> 04:57 PM) The cubz bandwagon started filling up when Harry Carey moved from the White Sox to the Cubs in 1981. That was huge. It exposed much of the country to Harry and the Cubs via Super station WGN. How cute those Cubbies were to toothless bumpkins in Iowa and throughout the WGN viewing area, and how comfortable grandparents were with folksy Harry, starting his broadcasts, "Hello everybaddy.." Yea, Cubz picked up a lot of fans, especially in remote cities and towns lacking a MLB franchise. There is not question though that Sox ownership were foolish with that nonsense paid Sportsvision. And that came on the heels of substandard WSNS UHF TV broadcasts of Sox games. Dumb and dumber. The thing that turned the dynamic of Cubs/Sox fandom around in a substantial way was how cubs fans were viewed after their behavior at and following the infamous 2003 Bartman game. Then on the heels of that debacle, the surprise World Series Championship that was waiting for our City in 2005. Shock (2003) and Awe (2005). It would be hilarious if the Cubs choked in the playoffs and something like that happened again. What would Illinois be without Chicago? More toothless bumpkins. And half the people who come to games are 50+ year old fans from Des Moines who have had a relationship with the Iowa Cubs for years and years. How many fans in Charlotte and Birmingham can conveniently attend Sox games? It's called marketing and controlling your regional territory. Not to mention the team in Peoria for generations. Once upon a time, the Sox at least had a team in South Bend. Another example, the Royals with teams in Omaha and NW Arkansas. Before that, Wichita for AA. It's called building your fanbase. It also helps when there's lots of young and exciting players to follow before they even reach the majors.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 30, 2016 -> 04:31 PM) Why laugh. You can't have students shouting the N word at people without grave repercussions, meaning enrollment declines of monumental proportions. People have to start behaving. It's fine, we'll just send more students from here in China to pay the exponentially increasing international student fees. Weird thing, I've never had a student in a decade mentioning a desire to go to Mizzou. The Big Ten is really doing a much better marketing job...although obviously having NW, Michigan, Illinois, etc., helps to lift the overall profile of conference schools. Purdue, Penn State and Iowa have a ton of Asian students now as well.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 29, 2016 -> 06:54 PM) Trouble in Columbia, Mo. A fraternity is suspended cause some members screamed racial insults and got caught doing it on tape. The N word. Seriously ... how can any white person yell that at people? Where do college students develop such hatred? I'm like all of you. I don't look at color ... at all. Why do some people hate their fellow human beings just cause of color?? Sickening. I wonder if Mizzou will still exist in a couple years at this rate. Have you been following Trump for the last two years and the barely "coded" treatment of Obama for the last eight? Racism was still there, but now the permission (validated by Trump) seemingly exists for it to come out of hiding again.

The fact that Bill Clinton's indiscretions were already the subject of the 1992 and 2000 elections and are still front and center tells you everything you need to know about 2016. Notice, it wasn't an issue in 2008 to Obama, because the differences are obvious enough without bringing them up. Trump has been married three times, twice to immigrants, who are now conveniently enough, bad for America. Why would a serious newsperson spend ANY time on this subject, just because Trump brings it up to deflect? Next he'll be taking credit for turning Alicia Machado into a successful actress/model/spokesperson near the age of 40 when most American actresses are consigned to "mother/caregiver" roles in the movies. Search Alicia Machado Maxim 2007 Greg.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 30, 2016 -> 05:09 PM) Can you imagine how bad KC would have been this season if Chicago and Minnie had just played .500 ball vs. the Hosmers? Look at their record vs. the AL West. LAA and A's aren't exactly powerhouses this season. Or on the road.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/alicia-machado-i...-162627092.html Wonder if anyone ever had Alicia Machado as the one name that would bring Trump's campaign down?

Do we have to talk about Carlos Sanchez and Leury Garcia all offseason? Let's hope not. Because the odds of them sustaining their recent success in starting roles is about 5-10% at best.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Sep 30, 2016 -> 12:47 PM) Sale leads the AL in fWAR And bWAR? Jose Fernandez is ahead in one of those, but something like 6th-8th for the other. Regardless, Sale isn't going to finish Top 3 and Q will be lucky to sneak into the Top 10.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 29, 2016 -> 10:56 PM) Back to the topic ... Maybe the Sox have decided there's nobody exciting available out there. Maybe if the Yankees flop in the playoffs they'll fire their manager and we can get him in a year. Let's face it ... If the Sox can only get somebody like a Martinez or Alomar, why bother? That's what they may be thinking. Robin is a poor manager, sure, but why hire some guy who will likely fail and we'd have to give him at least 3 year contract. Until a good one becomes available we keep Robin. Not saying it's right but it may be the issue here. I do wish Robin would work on his deficiencies. Cmon Robin, the four wins on the road vs. the Central HAS to be addressed. The Sox have some decent players. We shouldn't be THIS bad every year. Don't mistake this post. I want Robin gone, but I'm just saying the people available may suck. Yankees in the playoffs? After next season? Are the White Sox really going to offer Girardi that type of money, and would he really go to a rebuilding team? Miami a decade ago and then "starting over" with the White Sox would be two diametrically-opposed extremes, especially with the Cubs' resurgence and the fact that he was long-considered a possible manager for the Cubs. If anything, you'd think he would be the favorite to take the Cubs' job when Maddon retires, whenever that happens. Definitely the case if they don't manage to win a World Series in the next 3-5 years. KUDOS for no mention/s of Leyland, LaRussa, Francona or Guillen!!!

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 29, 2016 -> 03:22 PM) Because the White Sox are the 2nd team in the smallest market with multiple teams. Oakland is behind the Sox...Washington/Baltimore are lumped together now as well, by most.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Sep 29, 2016 -> 01:35 PM) HRC being a better candidate than Donald Trump adds nothing to her allure as a candidate. I never did what you claim with the bolded. My parents vote. My grandparents had voted in every election when they were alive. I don't feel the need to waste my time voting when the state I live in is a foregone conclusion. The rest of your post is all over the place and a task to respond to. I am not sure why you and many others think the government is out here trying to save children. Sure it happens, but like Napoleon said, "Absolute power corrupts absolutely." Something happened during the 1984/1988 elections where the funding elections and money in politics started to blow up. Both parties ended up sucking the tit of the powers traditional liberals used to hate. The banks, wall street, the military complex, etc. Past that, the liberals went so far left that their popular opinions aren't capitalistic or anywhere near in line with the idea of government this country was founded on. This has led to the expansion of government, more ugly foreign affair efforts and a smaller middle class yet the Democrats still scream for more government. With the history of human beings as my basis, it probably won't end in our favor. Yeah, the CHIP initiative is absolutely corruption at its finest. Ironically, Trump fashions himself another Napoleon. Hopefully he ends up exiled as well. So Michelle Obama's wife would have been excoriated had she taken the more active role Hillary did in 1993-94. What should she have been doing, exactly? Besides getting ripped for excessive vacations and spending money on travel expenses, she's been very similar to both Bush wives. Why don't you start your own Ayn Rand Party? Citizens United is 50% to blame for the money issue, and Republicans still aren't smart enough to figure out how to use that huge fundraising advantage to their benefit on the national level. We didn't have Republican presidents for 28/40 years from 1968-2008? From 1994 on, what did the Gingrich Revolution accomplish? The Tea Party Revolution? Did you miss all the inane foreign policy decisions and needless interventions under Nixon, Reagan and the Bushes? In the end, there's no screaming for more government. Social security, Medicare, military spending and interest on the debt is about all we're going to get...so we should believe that trickle down or voodoo economics actually works, and that every politician isn't limited to just two difficult choices, either investing into higher education OR increasing immigration? God help the USA if Melania is First Lady. Although it would be nice to undercut his central campaign theme of being anti-immigration. Mexicans and Alicia Machado, stay out, but if you're a Czech or Slovenian supermodel, come on down. We really don't have enough beauty in America, might as well import some more.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Sep 29, 2016 -> 02:29 PM) But what do you want Robin to do differently? What would you have a new manager do differently? I mean, I think we can all think of some instances where we disagreed with some of Robin;'s bullpen moves, but like really, what is this team lacking from a manager that is preventing it from winning? I get that it's attractive to use the manager as a scapegoat. But if you really JUST want someone's head to roll, I think it's all a waste of bluster. Because if the front office fires the manager and then trots the same half-assed team out there, are you really going to be satisfied? Yes, Robin has a losing record as a manager. So does the janitor, I guess. Who cares? Neither of them win or lose games. Front offices use managers as "fall guys" to placate angry fan mobs. It's a nearly meaningless gesture and it SHOULDN'T be enough for you. Don't let them pass off a different manager as a proxy for change. If the White Sox want to act the opposite of all of MLB teams in regard, great. But at least provide some evidence their plan is working or at least has a decent chance to work. They just shouldn't be surprised when a majority of the fans reject their operating philosophy. Has a school district under pressure from parents ever kept a principal in place with a record of such poor results without trying a change in leadership? Why are they trying to prove they're smarter than everyone else (especially their own fans) when there's almost nothing they can point to as reasons why he should be retained? I'm almost ready to believe they can just change the tagline for 2017 to Returning the Pride, change little of the roster and still believe nobody will be any the wiser.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 29, 2016 -> 02:43 PM) Didn't you just post that all of the teams in post season contention are all top revenue teams except for one? Nope. That was top half though...the White Sox were #16 coming into the season. If we can't operate in that 8-16 space (and 8 was the franchise value according to Forbes less than a decade ago), what's the point?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 29, 2016 -> 01:30 PM) Again, even with another $100 million, or a 40+% increase in revenue, they would STILL be closer to last than first. I get people hate JR, but I wish they wouldn't let that color the actual facts. What is the average revenue of the middle 10 MLB teams? #11-20. Get out of here acting like we're Tampa. 25 other teams in baseball are also closer to Tampa than the Yankees. All this does is suggest the team be sold because there's no shot to compete, but at least we don't have to deal with the Cubs and Cardinals and Pirates every year. The AL Central doesn't have any financial juggernauts like the east and west coast teams.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 29, 2016 -> 11:38 AM) The reality of revenue is this. The White Sox are no where near the big market teams in terms of dollars earned. The Yankees brought in $516 million in revenue last year. Tampa brought in $193 million. The White Sox brought in $240million. But there's no correlation there with winning recently...and the Yankees, especially in terms of the World Series. Otoh, you can obviously compete where the Royals, Astros, Pirates, Indians, etc., are in terms of revenues but the margin of error is that much much smaller. That's why you have also the Red Sox bouncing up and down but having the ability every year to finish in first, at least, if things go right. The common denominator is a superior farm system talent and quality depth. Nobody has ever compared the Sox with the Yankees, Red Sox, Giants, Dodgers or Cubs. It's irrelevant. Of course, we only hear how Ilitch is creating a train wreck with reckless spending in Detroit, but the Tigers' fans have had a good product there to consume for going on 11 years now at least. Finally, Minnesota, Cleveland and KC all have/had much smaller revenue streams than the Sox the last 15+ years and almost always seem to kick our butts, too. Tampa Bay has been much more cost-efficient as well, since you name-dropped them.

So they deliberately misled the fans the last two years that they could compete...? You can't now retroactively say the 2015 wasn't at least designed to be a playoff team but was rebuilding instead. And Frazier was a pretty huge acquisition at the time...just no follow up from that point onwards.

Hello incoming flood of "collateral damage" civil action lawsuits against the U.S.

You know things are bad when more than half the moderators (the die hardest of all) are pretty down, if not despondent. Even if Renteria is the manager next year, a lot of fans are close to fed up with how this all has played out over the last 24 hours.

Cue the Anderson was picked 17th, Hawkins 13th refrain...

Theo Epstein would be the sixth biggest contract in Sox history. Abreu, Danks, Buehrle, Ordonez and Konerko...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/colum...928-column.html The juxtaposition between the Cubs' and Sox announcements was jarring, to say the least. AS THEO EPSTEIN RECEIVES COMMITMENT ($50 million for 5 years), VENTURA TWISTS IN THE WIND I'm pretty sure the White Sox haven't spent $50 million on the GM's salary over the history of the entire franchise.

Ventura is only four more victories away from a 3-5 year contract extension. 81-81 OR BUST.

Arizona Diamondbacks manager Chip Hale is expected to be fired, with Phil Nevin the leading candidate to replace him. Even the DBacks/LaRussa/Stewart are smart enough to fire their manager when they arguably have been the worst front office over an 18 month period in recent MLB history... They could take the top 3-4 guys behind Theo/Hoyer/McLeod...starting with Bush and Rehman, randomly throw darts at their organizational chart and bring those guys over to the SouthSide, and undoubtedly have a heckuva lot better (and more cohesive/vision-oriented) organization than we currently do. http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/team/front_office.jsp?c_id=chc