caulfield12

Well, that didn't last very long. Threw the exact pitch the catcher wanted, decent location...Shields seems to be irked. Bad game plan or execution? Navarro is calling the pitches, Cooper or Shields?

QUOTE (Condor13 @ Jul 4, 2016 -> 12:26 PM) I like the bunt attempt by Spanky, if he gets it down its an easy hit. But not at least advancing Anderson or getting it down makes it a pretty terrible play.

Wow, Junior Guerra's on fire. 6-1, 7.1, 2 hits, 0 runs, 2 BB, 7 K's against a quality Nationals' team. Guess Eaton can't pick up the ball against Sabathia. Pretty terrible play there. Yankees arrived around midnight in Chicago, fwiw. Hopefully Shields can get his ERA as a Sox to sub 10. Started today at 11.07, yikes.

Also, you've got Bogaerts, Lindor, Correa and Manny Machado at that same SS position. Tough competition, although officially Machado's still a 3B until this year...even then you've got Machado/Donaldson/Longoria.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jul 4, 2016 -> 08:13 AM) Yes, the White Sox will make the playoffs IF they add an impact bat AND a reliever. If they stand pat like idiots again, they will miss out. And do you believe they will do BOTH or at least one of these things? And that it will be enough to push them over the top (to at least get Chris Sale to a WC start)?

Parity or parody?

http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/time-fo...truggling-team/ Morrissey: Maddon needs to be more honest/realistic and less of a perpetual cheerleader for these Cubs

http://espn.go.com/blog/statsinfo/post/_/i...ns-to-deal-with

I think you mean 2010? That was around 25-5 or 26-5, but we started the run that late May/early June well below .500. It was mostly on backs of blowing through the interleague competition, think it was the NL EAST that year. Our record in the AL Central really held us back, vs. the Twins, who dominated us in the 2nd half of the season.

All six ESPN baseball experts picked their teams and they all had Sale but maybe only one Quintana. One had Eaton, the other with Adam as the last one cut. There's no way we got 3 guys, and I think two would be pretty fortunate. The Twins will have Nunez, the Rays probably Longoria or Pearce, the Angels with Trout and the A's need to have one representative as well (maybe R.Hill or a reliever). They're having the same problems with the Indians, everyone has Salazar, but Carrasco/Kluber/Tomlin and even Bauer merit some consideration. And he's still got that record under .500 and an ERA a touch over 3. Don't think he's automatic, because his ERA in June was 4+ (despite that lousy string of run support for like 9 consecutive starts). Plus, Yost will pick his own guys like K.Herrera...and obviously Wade Davis.

If Hoiberg, Butler and Rondo can all peacefully co-exist...that's the question. Or they start pulling the Cavs' trick (against Blatt), ignoring the coaching staff and just freelancing and running their own plays.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 3, 2016 -> 11:17 AM) So you're projecting how many world series wins in a row for them? The far superior mid to late 90's Indians didn't win one. The early 00's Mariners. 2006-2014 Tigers, etc. It's all a crapshoot. I think it's safe, though, to assume they'll make the playoffs pretty frequently the next 3-4 years. There's nobody to challenge them. Royals will be torn apart after 2017. Tigers and White Sox will have older cores that need to be deconstructed. Twins are a long ways off with pitching and really need Berrios and Buxton to figure things out.

What is the gun at Winston-Salem typically at...high or low? Or it was a scout's gun that is almost impossible to corroborate? Any one else besides his agent? Wonder if the White Sox want him to be throwing that hard....or if they're waiting until the offseason or next year to make adjustments in his repertoire? Or possibly starting...

I guess I should have made up two poll questions...one for 2017. But it would be highly theoretical, do you believe the White Sox organization is responsible for putting a playoff team on the field in 2017? And do you think they (whoever they are in October) will be able to pull it off successfully? Greg, no negativity in this thread. But we appreciate your "Hawkism." I'll be watching the highlights on the ipad and Harrelson will shout "hell, yeah!!!" and my wife will automatically know something good happened with the White Sox. Then she'll ask if all American sports announcers curse and I'll just respond, "Hawk is Hawk, he's one of the last remaining vestiges of a bygone era in sports broadcasting." To which she'll roll her eyes.

Just curious. How many of those are from Sale/Q/Latos' first 4 starts?

Who thinks the Celtics are actually going to be better than the Cavs in the East? That's really pushing it. Anyone heard exactly when Durant will announce? Supposed to be Sunday night/Monday morning....any rumors? Warriors? OKC?

http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=m...tching/2016/ALL If he can sustain giving up less than a hit per inning...that would be better. Of course, still early. And every MILB hitter is going to be geeked up to hit that fastball. And no walks is the most important point in his stat line so far.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 3, 2016 -> 06:02 PM) I hate everyone playing for Chicago teams. What about Maddon? Him too? As much as all this media coverage this season is over the top, it's hard to HATE that guy. He's a very good manager. Not God, but the MLB equivalent of Pop or Brad Stevens.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jul 3, 2016 -> 05:38 PM) Clippers sign 36-year old Jamal Crawford 3/42. Worst signing of the offseason so far. Just awful. Worse than Mozgov? There's an article out there today stating Westbrook is worth $344 million. With the NBA being about on par with revenues and total franchise values, it seems they're really going to shoot themselves in the foot financially with all these mid-tier guys getting huge deals. We talk about Bryce Harper being a $500 million contract, but there's only a handful projecting in that territory.

I didn't vote, but I'll write some: 1) The luck in the AL Central has to shift at some point. 2) Sox still have more room to play much better at home. 3) Rodon, Abreu and Shields have a lot of room for improvement/upside. 4) They'll be getting Jackson back after the All-Star Break (can go back to their best defensive outfield), theoretically Morneau will help a lot and Cabrera back as soon as the Yankees' series, so Shuck's time will be cut back. 5) White Sox still have payroll space (due to LaRoche), and it will only be 2-3 month commitments on those contracts, rather than a full year. If they add someone like a Bruce, that will ensure they have that bat for 2017 as well, and won't have to go into the market this offseason when the pickings will be quite slim. 6) Possibility of Burdi, Hansen, Stephens...someone catching fire in the minors and helping out in the bullpen in the 2nd half. 7) Indians have to eventually come back down to earth and still have their own set of weaknesses. The Royals and Tigers, right now, are not greater than the sum of all their individual parts, either. 8) Catchers have been performing better recently. 9) Duke/Jones/Robertson seem about as solid as a collective trio as they have all season long. 10) Anderson's continued spark offensively and also on defense and the basepaths, brought some new energy and excitement to the line-up. When Jackson comes back, you'll have three guys in the line-up (along with Eaton, and even Lawrie) who can push opposing defenses. Saladino, when he plays, makes five good athletes. They're not necessarily all stolen base threats, but they can go 1st to 3rd and 2nd to home more easily than Sox players in the past.

Just for Dick Allen's sake, we'll create another "positive thread" to go along with "the April Sox are back." This one's a little different. You can vote yes or no, but the "NO" votes don't get to write anything. This is quite different from that thread, because even if you agree with the premise that the April Sox are back, that alone doesn't guarantee a playoff appearance, either. No caveats. No controlling for injuries or whether or not the front office will make trades to improve the team before the trade deadline and/or in August when the waiver claims start. No conditions or goalposts. Just, whether, in your heart of hearts, you believe this 2016 White Sox team will earn a spot in the playoffs (and, by extension, earn Ventura an extension as well as Rick Hahn)? As I said, ONLY the reasons why you believe the Sox will make it. BALT 58% TOR 56% BOS 53% HOU 39% DET 39% SEA 26% KC 25% CHW 19% NYY 8% http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2016-m...?ex_cid=rrpromo http://www.fangraphs.com/coolstandings.aspx These standings are similar, except in this case, the White Sox (8th in the AL) are ahead of the Royals, 14.5% vs. 12.5%. Yankees 10th again.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 3, 2016 -> 06:40 PM) Tex and Beltran coming off the books. Royals below .500 and 8 games back after 98 games in 2014. Toronto below .500 and 8 games back after 101 games last season. Determining how it all goes down on July 3rd is foolish. That's fine if the White Sox are adding Tulo (the good version) and David Price. That cleaned out their system to the point where a trade like that (just one of them) is going to much harder to pull off this time around, same with the Royals. The 2014 Royals were sparked, according to most, by a speech from veteran acquisition Raul Ibanez and the addition of James Shields. http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2...house/15314435/ Who on the White Sox is going to take a similar leadership role? Justin Morneau? Shields again? Anderson?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 3, 2016 -> 05:46 PM) No it isn't. The last time the Yankees bagged a season was? And chances are they do not trade any reliever. The rumor now is Chapman gets an extension. It doesn't matter what you say. Besides you are always wrong. The Sox still have a lot of LaRoche money left. They will probably spend it on pitching if Morneau shows he can hit, if he is washed up, another bat will come. Jackson and Melky will return and we all , except for you, can be hoping for White Sox victories. Whenever you get like this, it practically guarantees the White Sox won't follow suit and will do the opposite. There aren't very many Yankees' fans who honestly think their team should "GO FOR IT" this year when success is predicated on so many aging/over the hill veterans. They all have seen the competition just in the AL East and know their team is lacking. And, in case you haven't noticed, the Yankees look more like the Twins in terms of their recent free agent spending, other than McCann two and Tanaka offseasons ago. Since then...? It really doesn't make sense for NY to pay "peak value" for Chapman when they already have Betances and Miller under contract affordably (the combination of both averaging out.)

For the New York Yankees, in terms of their direction with dealing Miller and Chapman, it's going to be. Now the likelihood of them getting swept with two of their best starters going and the bottom 3 for the Sox isn't that high. And the White Sox might have gone 9-4, but they still don't have a DH or solid RH relief depth. There's nothing that you can do to change that. Fundamentally, they're still in the same exact precarious situation they were last year at this time, albeit their record is better. If you told me they were going to trade for one of Josh Reddick/Beltran/Bruce and Miller/Chapman/insert solid RH reliever, then I would place them as a solid playoff favorite. Of course, there's still those six teams ahead of us, all with more resources or deeper farm systems, so it's going to take JR signing off on adding $10-15 in additional payroll. Do you believe he will do that now? Flavum and I said 6-3 (or better) or 3-6 (or worse) would help Hahn make that decision over the ASB. Right now, they're at 2-1. 4-2 the next two series leaves them in pretty good shape, but still doesn't guarantee being any higher than 5th or 6th in the WC standings.

Boston +7 2. Detroit/Toronto +6 4. KC +5 1/2 GB 5. HOU/SEA +4 1 GB 7. CHW +2 2 GB 8. NYY -1 3 1/2 GB The Yankees/Sox series still looms as a type of "mini-elimination" set if the White Sox can sweep NY. It's also huge for our non-Sale/Q run in the starting rotation to sustain the positive momentum with this current 9-4 streak. Sabathia vs. Shields Tanaka vs. Rodon TBD vs. Miguel Gonzalez KC at Toronto DET at CLE (huge series for the Tigers)