caulfield12

http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/_/id/32860/billy-burns Going through his stats for this year, there's zero reason to pay a premium for Billy Burns. Maybe if Austin Jackson's offense balls back to the 575-600 OPS level, it's something they can consider. He's only a .204 hitter in nearly 50 at-bats at USCF, let's hope he and the rest of the team can pick it back up.

I don't see any reason to change Sale and Quintana around for the Royals...especially in the middle of May when we're leading them by 5 1/2 games. That would be something that would happen against the 2002-2010 Twins, letting the Piranhas get in their heads before the season series has even started. The Royals are using their three best pitchers the next two days against the RED SOX. Ventura Tuesday, Kennedy and Volquez in the DH WED. That means Ventura will pitch Sunday...and that we'll likely see Duffy/Gee for the Fri and Sat games. Couldn't be more favorable than that, as arguably Kennedy/Volquez have been roughly equal as their two best starters...we're getting #'s 3-5, and Ventura's velocity has been down appreciably this year (so far). Only advantage KC has is the offday THURS.

Would like to see Hawkins cut down his K-rate to 25% instead of 15 in 40 at-bats, but it's not like the K issue is even news anymore. Theoretically, he profiles as a prospect a bit like Moya on the Tigers...with perhaps a bit more defensive ability.

Heading into Tuesday's games up 4 1/2 on CLE, 5 1/2 on the Royals and 7 games up on DET, who have now won two games a row but also just blew a huge lead against the Twins (Zimmerman gave up 7 ER) but won 10-8 in the end. Would be nice to knock the Tigers out completely, they're teetering on the brink as is...

I don't think we have the right package for Burns because they'll ask for Fulmer (arguing his upside is as a reliever, not starter), unless they're really 100% convinced that Adams is the real deal. But even Adams for Burns seems a bit thin, so they would probably ask for Adams + Danish/Trey/Hawkins. That's where Hahn has to make a calculation...is it really better for the team to deal their second best starting prospect for an upgrade over Jackson? How much of an upgrade? Obviously, adding another player to the "core" who is controlled through 2020 would be big. BUT, Burns seems to be the type of player who's best suited for that huge outfield in OAK. Playing 81 games at USCF, some of that benefit the A's get out of him there would be nullified. The reason they'll ask for more than we expect is for that very same reason...young, cost-controlled and a better option at the #2 spot than anyone on our current roster. That means Beane would try to extract more value for him. If Burns is mediocre, then why would we want him? We'd just stay with Jackson for one year and let things play out.

That's fine with me. Would you be okay with Bill Clinton running again, Greg? The Democrats could actually use that as an opportunity to run Warren (with Sanders as VP) together, or bring in someone like Julian Castro. There are SOME good Democratic candidates who've been denied the chance to shine and develop simply because of the "Clinton Machine." (Of course, this process on the other side proved that having 17 doesn't accomplish anything if none of them are talented enough to figure out a way to beat Trump.) That said, Bill vs. Trump would be some great theater. But even without Bill, Hillary vs. Trump will at least be interesting because the dynamic is totally different in a one v. one format.

Kansas is about the last state in the country where you'd find a kid willingly identifying as a girl to have an opportunity to win an event in track...unless it was done completely as a joke and EVERYONE was in on it, in which case the event managers would probably get a sense about that and put the kibosh on it. Of course, the repercussion would probably be the top girls' parents (who theoretically should have won) suing the school for potentially ruining their daughters' opportunities for scholarships due to being denied the opportunity to run in a "fair" race.

The problem is that 2 hole hitter would have to come from SS, Austin Jackson or Garcia...unless there's a catcher out there profiling as a 2, and Jason Castro 2-3 years ago might have been the only one (and his K rate is/was terrible, too). So unless you're willing to bench Avi, trade/acquire another SS before you give the job to Anderson or make Jackson a 4th outfielder, there's not going to be a good fix.

QUOTE (SCCWS @ May 16, 2016 -> 06:36 AM) No last offseason. Bradley had a sub-par year last year again w the bat. Now he has exploded offensively. They had Young, Castillo, Betts, Holt and Bradley Jr as outfielders and already decided to move Ramirez once they signed Young. But they were desperate for starting pitching . They went out and paid a bundle for Price but they still were short and now are really scrambling for starting pitching. I wouldn't have done the Castillo package for Q and I didn't think the Red Sox would do a Betts package. Oh well. With Rodon struggling it may have best for White Sox in long run. http://m.mlb.com/player/598265/jackie-bradley-jr He had an 832 OPS last year and is an excellent defender. In 2014, he was at 531 and his prospects were slightly dimmed...looked like the classic all field, no hit type. It was pretty obvious that Castillo and Hanley were the ones that were going to be out of luck in terms of maintaining their outfield positions. Red Sox also seemed to be satisfied with Holt. Castillo just wasn't hitting for enough power, isn't a very good defender and doesn't light up the board with lots of steals, either.

The problem with paying for a 3rd starter (right now) under multiple years of control is that we don't have enough chips to trade for one...and still be able to acquire a LH hitter and bullpen help as well. It's more likely we spend money unless we can give away anyone not named Anderson/Fulmer in order to pick up such a "pretty good" pitcher. Let's say Teheran with the Braves. That's going to cost Adams and more.

Well, if you're going to have someone drill Bautista, it might as well be a kid with pent up energy for the last decade throwing 97-98 MPH...

Free State of Jones is the movie I'm most looking forward to... Any historical/Civil War drama fans out there? http://www.amazon.com/Rebel-Born-Defense-B...t/dp/0982189915 Not sure how well this Nathan Bedford Forrest movie will do outside of the Deep South... http://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2014/...ie-2912448.html

Odor: Drops down on the relay throw and tries to take off Bautista's head. And then punches Bautista in the jaw with a quick right hand. Code ruling: Violation! Some will say Odor's throw was within the guidelines of the code, because you're taught to drop down on a relay throw to make the player slide. It seemed, however, that Odor had intentions of trying to hurt Bautista. Why? You have a game to win. You should be more concerned with completing the double play than trying to exact even more revenge for something that happened last October. Plus, Bautista was already sliding, and he wasn't out of the basepath. If Odor's throw was within the code, then the code is stupid and broken and even more illogical than it already is. It was a great punch, though. David Schoenfield/ESPN http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/i...-with-blue-jays See? We don't need these pansy new slide rules. Let the boys handle it themselves. Keep the nerds out, this game has always policed itself. — CJ Nitkowski (@CJNitkowski) May 15, 2016 Joe (Sheehan) argued that "nerds" had nothing to do with the new slide rules. I guess I fail to understand Nitkowski's point, although that's what players and former players say all the time. Let the players handle it. Is he saying fights are OK? Because that's what happens when you do let the players police themselves, you get stupid stuff like this, ending up in stupid fights that could have ended in with multiple injuries. Baseball is stupid sometimes.

Who's the pitching coach in Charlotte again? Britt Burns? Richard Dotson?

Bautista, Gibbons and Stroman (have to find it again) providing bulletin board material for the Rangers “That’s the only reason why he got me, and he got me pretty good so I have to give him that,” he said after the game. “It takes a little bit of a bigger man, I guess, to knock me out.” Gibbons said it was “gutless” for the Rangers to go after Bautista when they did. “The other 29 teams out there, if they’ve got an issue they come at you right away,” he said. “To wait until the end (of the season series) it just kind of tells me something about them.” Bautista admitted he went hard into second, which he suggested was within the boundaries of the code, while the punch was not. “It shows a little bit of the apparent lack of leadership that they have over there when it comes to playing baseball the right way,” he said. “Baseball plays are supposed to be taken care of by baseball plays.” https://www.thestar.com/sports/bluejays/201...as-rangers.html "Zero respect for Odor. Never had respect for him, never will." Marcus Stroman on twitter

One scout when Rougned Odor debuted: "The thing I love about him the most is you do not want to [expletive] with him." That's a good scout. — Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) May 15, 2016 Jose Bautista should start a support group with Robin Ventura http://sportsday.dallasnews.com/texas-rang...ce-rougned-odor Lots of funny quotes from around the sports world on the punch heard round the world. http://sportsday.dallasnews.com/texas-rang...-jays-melee?f=r Shortly after Texas Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor went all Muhammad Ali on Jose Bautista's face, his Wikipedia page got an edit. Check it out below. Under "throws," where the hand that baseball players throw the ball with is listed, someone put "a mean clean shot."

QUOTE (miracleon35th @ May 15, 2016 -> 05:50 PM) As Dan Plesac correctly pointed out, Gonzo was afraid to pitch in the strike zone because he knew that anything he threw in the strike zone would probably get torched. Gonzo walked his way off the roster, or at least I hope he did. RH and KW would be crazy to keep this guy on the roster and give him one more start. That was more painful to watch than looking at his sideburns. Then the bullpen - Zach Duke was awful and Matt Albers stunk it up again. Even Nate Jones gave up a bomb. Rome crumbling before our eyes again. The good news is that the Sox have time to find someone else for the 5th starter spot. Maybe go to a 4 man rotation for one turn. Okay, things are getting quite amusing when I have to be the voice of "reason." Rome crumbling? Not quite yet, lol, but they definitely took some body blows this week and have to figure out a way to right the ship. Any "strike" throwers we have in the minors are going to be guys that we probably don't want throwing the ball over the plate because it will get crushed. That was the Twins' philosophy for years, pitch to contact, let the fielders do the work and limit the walks. Of course, if you have little command inside the strike zone and don't have enough stuff to put hitters away, it's also pointless. If you put any pitcher in that "bubble" where every single start out could be his last at the major league level, you're going to have a tentative pitcher afraid to make mistakes or give up a huge inning. In a way, that worked in his favor for most of Sunday, although it won't always when you put that many runners on base. As soon as our next sacrificial lamb is slaughtered (Beck, I think), then there will be a new punching bag to focus on...or maybe it will be Hahn, although it's pretty fair to say nobody expected to be 5 to 7 1/2 games in first place in the AL Central six weeks into the season. That said, it's up to Hahn to address the bullpen and find another starting pitcher before the end of July. Whether it's Lincecum or not, we'll just have to wait and see. Really, they could use Lincecum more in the pen...but that would require him throwing mid 90's in short bursts and I'm not sure if he could do that or not. We all had a sneaking suspicion Matt Albers wasn't going to be able to sustain his near dominance for the entire season. So you look to improve, but don't do anything stupid like desperately overpaying when you don't have any compelling need to do so.

Luckily, the Twins and Royals aren't putting much pressure on us, YET. I have a sense that will change pretty dramatically once we start playing them head to head. Either we'll bury them in June or we'll muddle through and it will be a dogfight until the very end. Technically, the White Sox have won 2 of the 3 starts that Gonzalez went out there, and he's kept them in the games, which is all you can ask for someone you didn't have to give up anything to acquire. Status quo for now. http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/batvspitch/_...miguel-gonzalez Based on the 628 OPS against him from current Royals' hitters, there's no way he doesn't start SUN. Interestingly, Jarrod Dyson is 5/6 against him, Salvy Perez 4/11 and the rest of the team is pretty much terrible.

Another example of the Bautista bat flip posing and bad blood carrying over from last post-season and into the final game of a series. Not sure when/if they play each other again this year.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ May 15, 2016 -> 02:56 PM) There is no way that Shields' price is anything more than a single C prospect; anyone who pays more than that is insane. This team has holes. They may win anyway, they may not. Cleaning out the farm for the other team's veteran du jour won't change that. It be fixed in the future with an influx of YOUNG talent. Yes, for his contract alone. Otoh, if they're sending $15-20 million, it's going to cost a couple of decent prospects. Depends on how motivated they are to save half of his payroll space (just like with Matt Kemp). They're not winning anything with Kemp or Shields on the roster in the next couple of years, one way or the other. Myers will go into arbitration next year and start becoming more expensive. He's the one I would be most interested in from that roster.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ May 15, 2016 -> 03:34 PM) Except Olt was a claim. Looking to trade Davidson for a major league piece may not be realistic (unless maybe it's for a reliever or something). He has to go in a package with Erik Johnson and Carlos Sanchez. At any rate, our minor league return is starting to look a little bit better. Chris Devenski had three consecutive solid starts for the Astros before getting rocked today against Boston. I think he was something like a mid 20's selection, 25th round I want to say.

The Astros have a lousy record but they went toe to toe offensively with the Red Sox for three straight games. Need to right the ship. 1-3 since blowing that game Tuesday night in epic fashion. Luckily, the Indians wet the bed against the Twins, and that happened at home. Easily could have been a Twins' sweep. In fact, the Indians are 2-4 against Minnesota and we're 6-0, so that right there is one big chunk of the 5 game spread in the standings. Still tied for the best record in the AL, but technically percentage points behind the O's.

Yeah, LeBron still feels he's the best overall player in the game...is maybe a little jealous of all the attention the Warriors are getting, this idea they're making a mockery of the league and that LeBron's prime is nearing an end...it would have been better to say "Hey, the dude's a deserving MVP. All you had to do was watch him light it up for 17 the other night in OT. But I still believe when it comes down to it that I'm the best player in the world and I look forward to proving that in the Finals." The End As someone noted, last year there was the injury excuse. This year, he doesn't have that to fall back on, nor can he blame not having his own hand-picked coach, either.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ May 15, 2016 -> 10:31 AM) How many f***ing times do people have to say that it's not a fear of transgendered people--it's a fear of straight people taking advantage of the situation? It's only been said fifty times in this thread? Are you that dense or just intentionally ignoring what's been said because it doesn't jive with your far lefty commie views? And yes, there are already plenty of cases of straight guys doing exactly that. I think Greg's argument (which is all over the place, but with a different orientation or trigger) and yours are quite different. That some mischievous youths will use this new law/rule as a way to gain access and/or make a mockery of the law itself by deliberately trying to circumvent the intentions and dubious enforceability of the legislation. I would then ask if there are plenty of cases of straight men doing that....how many have actually ended up with an assault/rape/crime committed or were they just trying to be "cute"?

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ May 15, 2016 -> 10:13 AM) This dude is telling people to toughen up when he had to leave a subway because of how someone dressed/looked. Fantastic. To be clear, it was a Subway restaurant and not the world-famous Johnson County to Lawrence, KS subway.