caulfield12

Well, sure....he's named Anthony Rizzo.

Where are you going to play Bellinger if Abreu was traded to the Dodgers...?

Healthy Avi (unfortunately have to wait another month), healthy Cordell...bring up Collins and Zavala with Jimenez and Kopech. Add one more bullpen veteran in Jeanmar Gomez. Finally, throw Dylan Cease, Hansen and Burdi into that pen and we're set after we pick up a veteran arm at the trade deadline (taking on his contract's final 2 months). Definitely have a shot at the 2nd wild card or more likely the AL Central. (Teal needed?)

Some of the FA's this past off-season who were FAIRLY similar would be Carlos Santana and Jay Bruce. Pretty sure Santana was 3/$60. Bruce was 3/$39 for age 31-33. You have Moustakas' one year deal, when his market dried up. He and Logan Morrison were 1 year/$6.5 million. Yonder Alonso, 2 years/$16 million. Average those (five deals) all together...2 years/total of $21.6 million ($10.8 million per year) If you want to go on the high side, you have Brandon Belt for ages 30-33 (4 years), $64 million. We also have the evidence that Jose Bautista's last effective year was age 35 (and can compare body styles).

https://www.yahoo.com/news/nra-links-school-violence-ritalin-experts-deny-224138205.html This theory from the NRA/North about overprescription/s of ritalin being the reason for the shootings takes the cake... https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/20/us/texas-lieutenant-governor-dan-patrick-reasons-for-school-shootings/index.html Texas Lt. Governor adds to the parade of excuses, adding five more reasons 1) Prevalence of violent video games 2) Removing religion from schools (apparently, we should forget about separation of church and state) 3) Abortions and "broken families" (foster homes/orphanages) 4) Irresponsible gun owners (but not the guns themselves) 5) Too many school entrances 6) Teachers not armed to the teeth to deter potential attackers

With Cease and Giolito already having had TJS, just not sure you can add more risk with such a high pick. Better to go with a TJS guy in the 2nd or 3rd imo. We've been drafting "high upside plays" like Beck, Adams and Hansen in the second round and hoping that ONE pops. Now if they're absolutely convinced Singer is the next Aaron Nola/Buehler/Michael Wacha and NOT the next Carson Fulmer, go for it.

That would be a pace for 49-113. Just don't see that happening with Rodon, Lopez and (a hopefully improving) Giolito...along with reinforcements in JImenez, Kopech, Cordell AND Avi (actually hitting at the end of JUNE), etc. The outfield production with Thompson, Avi, Engel and Delmonico has been historically bad....so any slippage from Moncada/Davidson/Lopez should be balanced out somewhere else on the roster. It also feels like the bullpen is more or less sorted out now with Jones, Rondon, Fry and Soria (6th/7th only).

They're not going to say it, but not only will Jimenez and Kopech looking like they can hold their own be MORE attractive to potential free agents, it will 2) Help convince fans the worst is over and to jump back on board buying tickets for 2019 instead of waiting until 2020/21 3) Improve tv and radio ratings, which will be nothing but beneficial for the organization (of course, the other theory is that if they TOTALLY bottom out in ratings in 2018, then any improvement in 2019 and especially 2020 will be statistically significant) as they look to the huge (for this franchise) broadcasting rights deal they'll be negotiating in 2019 Not to mention that the (rest of the) AL Central looks eminently vulnerable. One caveat, of course, is that if BOTH of those projected star players struggle (or get seriously injured), it will be a huge setback. Obviously, injuries can happen at any level and are perhaps slightly more likely in the minors due the inferior playing surfaces, but that's more true of A-level fields and below, compared to AA and AAA. Finally, anytime you have a top prospect (especially Top 20-25 in MILB), if you want to hold them in the minors because their projected trade value is MORE likely to take a hit if they have a setback at the next level...that would be ONE thing, but we're not in a position to trade either of those guys. They pretty much have to succeed with the Sox for this rebuild to work, so we're not going to be "hiding" or protecting them by keeping them in the minors.

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/05/20/politics/donald-trump-sunday-tweets/index.html Only 11 demonstrable lies in the span of 5 tweets!!!

He has all five tools...if he can realize his potential. Hoping he’s not the next Ben Grieve.

The consensus #1 right now... https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/bobby-witt-jr-shows-off-five-tool-package-at-tournament-of-stars-despite-youth/

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-dismissing-top-voter-concern-202845232.html Health insurance the single biggest issue to voters as November elections near...

If you look at how much we spent on our 2006 rotation, it was the most expensive in the majors at that time with Garcia, Contreras, Buehrle, Javy and Garland. We also developed (and traded) Gio/Hudson/McCarthy. Traded for Danks and Floyd, although you can certainly put Gavin into “Cooper’s success” checklist, overall. Spent a ton of money adding Linebrink and Dotel to limited success. In general, our set guys and closers have been mostly inexpensive guys like Jenks, Sergio Santos, Howry/Foulke, Marte, Thornton, Crain, etc., that were acquired cheaply, with the two exceptions above and Robertson. Besides Sale and Buehrle, if there’s ONE area he has done extremely well (other than years like 2007 when we threw a bunch of garbage at the wall and hoped some would stick), it’s the bullpen. 2003-2012, there’s no doubt that Cooper was one of the best. The question is how “great” he has been since 2013, and how much of it is just lack of talent. That 2012 team used what, about 12-13 rookies (mostly in the bullpen, along with Q) and somehow hung in there with the Tigers until the final two weeks. Recently, it’s a story of health struggles like Danks and Rodon (obviously we let Buehrle walk due to cost)...discovering Q...and trying to make water out of wine from 2013-2018. Before, you could easily argue he was a Top 5 pitching coach (based on criteria like that listed above), right now it’s very difficult to say how effective he is based on a lot of factors that are out of control, such as Rodon’s health and Fulmer’s mechanics and Giolito’s “missing stuff.” For example, I don’t know if anyone made a mistake letting Junior Guerra go and not noticing his potential, but that happens with every organization from time to time (now we can give unlimited starting time for 1 1/2 years to nearly anyone, we weren’t in that position previously).

So what should we judge his effectiveness on then? Neither the scouts that drafted him nor the coaches who work with Fulmer...it’s just “bad luck” that projections haven’t matched up with reality? We heard the story over and over again how he took Matt Thornton and “fixed him” after one day (actually knew the fix that was needed before they traded Borchard to get him)...but we haven’t “fixed” many pitchers recently. The only examples that Sox fans can point to are Swarzak and Kahnle in the last few years, basically. So we fall back to the old argument that the talent level is just bad...which somehow isn’t blamed on the front office or scouting staff and the conversation just goes around and around in circles and we end up with the same owner, same GM’s, (and usually the) same coaches year after year.

There’s no way to PROVE anything he says...that’s the beauty of a conspiracy theory. It’s all about perception. If someone is led to believe something they’re already “suggestible” on...it’s not much of a stretch to push them over the edge into a full-fledged zealot.

So that statement I made automatically means he’s “ineffective,” or maybe it is simply that he’s just living off the reputation that he developed mostly from the 2003-2012 teams? Based on the last 5-6 years, what evidence can be presented that he’s one of the best pitching coaches in the game (still)? Maybe there’s no point in questioning any coaches or talent developers until after the end of the 2020 season I guess. And I don’t remember saying that 100% of the pitchers will make it...I’ve consistently maintained 30-40% would be a relatively high success rate (of the better pitching prospects).

Jimenez with a ground ball double down the line and a single so far...Collins in a “mini slump” now. Zavala with his 10th HR, I think that leads the Southern League.

CLE LUIS or Jose? Bruce?

Personally, I think the successes of Sale and Q made things look TOO EASY. The Sox used to be very fortunate in this area. At any rate, we really need Rodon to return to form or for one of the youngsters like Kopech to lead and for everyone else to get in line and follow. That’s what happened with the Braves back in the day...Glavine, Smoltz and Avery had their struggles, but then they figured things out and that got the ball rolling towards perennial playoff contention. Granted, those are two HoF pitchers in the same rotation. The closest we have in our Sox lifetimes are Buehrle and Sale, with just a tiny overlap.

Lol. Okay Greg, you have my apology...since Taylor Street Sox believes we are the same person (trolling), I had to prove it couldn’t possibly be true. But please stop assuming everyone hates God, you’re going to drive yourself to an early grave if you get upset about the shifting state of Christianity in the world today. If you watched the royal wedding, you’ll understand there will always be a place for God/believers in the world as long as there are like-minded individuals on earth who gather together. At any rate, this should solve aforemention identity crisis once and for all.

At this point, I don’t think we can even 100% rule out Dylan Covey being a major contributor down the line. Stranger things have happened in the history of baseball.

Or, James Clapper and Rogers have succeeded in turning the entire IC against the GOP/Trump...which is actually not the case because the majority of those in the IC hate having former CIA directors get so directly involved in partisan politics as Clapper has done, basically accusing the president of treason, or intimating it, at least. He certainly hasn’t ruled that possibility out.

The question is not the movement on his pitches...it’s command within the strike zone. Which he clearly doesn’t have right now, let alone control of his pitches. His confidence is also shot again, not unlike down the stretch in 2016.

Since when is the “intelligence community” on the side of Democrats? Ummm...that would be never.But that’s almost as rich as a Seth Rich conspiracy. https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/07/wapo_targets_intelligence_cont.html It used to be the complete opposite. But that evil Bezos is doing the bidding of his overlords in the military/industrial complex despite the Trump administration allocating more funding than any agency or military branch even requested.

I’ve never seen a pitching coach criticizing the fans that pay his salary more than Don Cooper. Who is it? Either our talent evaluation/projection sucks...or Cooper is not getting his message through, or a combination thereof. Besides, Greg has plenty of likes. But you’d have to be a complete idiot to see our vocabulary, religious beliefs, taste in movies or politics/doomsday scenarios shares absolutely no commonalities. It will also be pretty hard to pull off since we live 13 hours apart, he in KS, myself in China. Oh, and I never have referred to myself in the 3rd person, like Dole, Trump and Greg.