caulfield12

Interesting that the "empirical evidence" is based on Garcia starting and Austin Jackson on the bench? Are they already adjusting for Garcia's spring training bomb today? Btw, does Davidson hitting one all the way over the hitting backdrop count for anything?

And, in all fairness, Japanese-Americans were treated much differently than German-Americans during WWII. Of course, some will make the argument that Japan directly attacked America at Pearl Harbor. I think a lot of it does go back to that perception that for the last 20-30 years countries like Japan, South Korea, China/Taiwan, Singapore, etc., have been eating our lunch from a competitive economics standpoint. Then, you look at the worldwide educational attainment/PISA/SAT, etc., scores and Asians are also dominating "white" Americans and being reverse-discriminated against in college applications for doing too well. So, because Asians (including Indian-Americans as well here) are doing better, economically, on average, than whites, African-Americans and Hispanics, therefore they're now part of the dominant power structure moreso than "subjugated" minorities...of course, ignoring the abuse of Asian coolie labor in building the railroads and much of California or the WW II internment camps.

QUOTE (VAfan @ Mar 7, 2016 -> 04:12 PM) I agree with this. If you went in with the budget the Sox have spent, it's hard to imagine anything better than what's turned out. Everything else people have clamored for would have cost more, perhaps a lot more. You can argue Desmond would have more impact than Rollins/Latos/draft pick...but that argument is also based on the belief Desmond would play well enough to be given another QO at the end of the season, AND, that another team would sign him before June, 2017. That would be for him to play SS (where he arguably has more value), rather than OF. The other unknown here is the draft pick compensation itself, which I guess can't be changed until December of this year, and certainly that would have to apply to future offseasons and not the immediate 2016-17 one. You also run the risk of having the QO accepted, which would leave you with a $17 million SS blocking Tim Anderson's path at that position. (Obviously, they'd still have the option to play Desmond at 2B, OF, DH, etc.)

They lost each game. My wife was upset that we spent that money on that team and refused to let me get another plan for this year unless they got a 3rd baseman and another outfielder. Done and done I told her last night! See ya all at the ball park! Quite amused at the idea of wives or girlfriends complaining about the "entertainment value" of Sox baseball but men can't make similar comments about the need of some women to buy new handbags, jewelry, cosmetics and shoes every month??? Btw, if they had won all those games, seemingly that would have given you more justification to spend even more money on the Sox, right? Undoubtedly, it doesn't quite work that way. Fwi, heard a crazy stat during the Angels broadcast today. The White Sox didn't get a single homer from a LHB against a LHP all season in 2015? Really?

If it's the same Jackie Bradley, Jr., from last year...but nobody is 100% convinced what they'll get from him offensively with everyday playing time. The same applies to Rusney Castillo, for that matter. http://www.csnchicago.com/white-sox/rick-h...ay-cf-white-sox Hahn: Jackson will play mostly CF

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Mar 6, 2016 -> 11:03 PM) Kansas City (would have to be RF though), Detroit (over Maybin/Gose), Cleveland (while Brantley is out)... basically any team but Minnesota. edit- lots of posters beat me to it- I'd say no to Minnesota because Rosario is probably better And Rosario put up a 748 OPS last year, but was WELL under .700 OPS-wise in almost 700 AA and AAA at-bats. I'd put him in that category like Santana the previous year who had all the APPEARANCES of a big league ballplayer, and a keeper, but was also 2-3 bad months from playing himself off the roster. That said, Rosario was a four-time Top 10 prospect in the Minnesota system who had largely underachieved until last season. All things considered, Rosario is the better bet because he's still just 24, but nobody around baseball would be shocked if Jackson put up a 725-750 OPS and Rosario ended up in the mid 600's.

Thad, it's not about PA's as much as defensive improvement and base running as well. It's a bit of the 2005 formula, a bunch of hungry and under appreciated veterans like Latos/Rollins/Lawrie/Jackson replacing some of the more complacent ones like Alexei (back then, Carlos Lee and Magglio/Valentin to a lesser extent.) If Jackson can put up a 2-3 WAR season, that's a HUGE lift. No guarantees of course, but at least now there's options at most positions, other than missing that certainty from the LH side that LaRoche and Dunn were both supposed to provide.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Mar 6, 2016 -> 10:20 PM) Don't care, he fills a big need on this team at a great price. Sure. Orlando/Dyson (injured)/Snider are the three RFers in KC. Rajai Davis and mystery person (with Almonte out, maybe Tyler Naquin) in CLE. There's two spots. And that's including Michael Brantley as the starter, which is far from certain in April. Rosario has to put two solid seasons together in MN. DET has Upton/JD Martinez but then Maybin (injured)/Gose in CF, so you can definitely make the case he would/should be starting in 3 ALCD outfields and possibly Minnesota as well, especially if Buxton's deemed not ready health or performance-wise. Also, depending on whether Sano is LF/RF or DH.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Mar 6, 2016 -> 10:07 PM) Not really, considering both his CF defense and the production of the other outfielders on the roster. Avi managing to hit/defend well enough to justify taking playing time away from Jackson is way harder to imagine. There seems to be no consensus on whether Eaton would be better in LF or RF, Cabrera in LF or RF or Garcia in LF instead of RF. Lots of questions to be answered over the next month. With the rehab situation, Eaton's eventual position destination is especially up in the air.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Mar 6, 2016 -> 10:00 PM) Jackson becomes the 4tg outfielder unless we have another move in the works. I think Garcia stays no matter what Like with Rollins, I don't think they brought in Jackson if they didn't promise Scott Boras every possible opportunity to give his client regular playing time to rebuild his value for next offseason. Also the idea we never work with Boras clients is taking a bit of a hit, although obviously this wasn't a headline $100+ million contract. It's Jackson and Rollins with the early built-in veteran advantage, and Garcia/Saladino have to clearly win those jobs to earn playing time.

Looks like AAA outfield will be Daniel Fields, Jacob May and Sands/Shuck (if JB doesn't end up catching on with another org)...MAYBE Avi if they keep Sands to DH with LaRoche? Leury Garcia and Sanchez as infielders, among others.

Trading Avi and a reliever for what? LH bat? I'm still having a hard time imagining what Avi and Albers/Putnam/Petricka would actually bring back...better to give Avi full-time at-bats in AAA and then bring him back in case of an injury if they want to increase his trade value. Going to be interesting to see who ends up at the corners, and/or whether Jackson stays in CF for the entire season...obviously he's got to hit much better than over the last 1 1/2 seasons to justify full-time opportunities. The other part of this is actually having a bit of a roster crunch between Shuck, Avi Garcia, Sanchez and Jerry Sands. Nice to have some options at least, rather than being "stuck" with less than ideal guys like Olt/Davidson/Beckham/Bonifacio/Leury Garcia. Fwiw, I wanted Desmond and Jackson from the beginning, but certainly understand that Latos/Rollins/Jackson is probably going to be a better bet from a risk perspective than $8 million and a lost draft pick at 26. This was the final move they needed (at least until mid-season) to improve the outfield defense and also improve the DH position as well. Would imagine the payroll now is in the $130ish million range, maybe a million or two over. A 6.5% increase is reasonable, all things considered. Now obviously there's a chance that all three of those guys backfire, just like Desmond in Texas, but the odds of success with at least 1/3 should be pretty good, if not getting meaningful contributions from 2/3. Good luck, Angels...wouldn't be buying oceanfront property if I was the new GM out there just yet.

http://www.mlbdailydish.com/2016/3/3/11154...6450.1454651730 Dyson now out six weeks. Jackson is the obvious target.

Tie game. Hawkins walk, May double, Sanchez huge game-tying two run RBI. Engel wiped out trying to steal second and get the winning run in scoring position.

Five two out hits? Hmmmm. Tyler Naquin now has about a 50/50 chance to win the CF job for CLE. Two more first round draft picks are on the way in Bradley Zimmer and Clint Frazier, probably another reason they're reluctant to add for just one season. Forgot they now had Brady Aiken as well. Pretty rich to have an Indians' radio guy criticizing the attendance...but at least they are carrying games all weekend.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Mar 3, 2016 -> 07:41 PM) I don't really understand this...perhaps they didn't have a whole lot of money to spend this season...that doesn't necessarily dictate a change in the longer term plan, especially if you don't necessarily believe the results on the field last year truly represent the talent that was in place. I feel like we are going to take a big step this season, not only because of the additions this offseason but because of some additions from last offseason. I feel very similar to how I felt going into '12...like we will be pretty competitive. In a nutshell, it comes down to believing in LaRoche, Avi Garcia and Cabrera, and Lawrie to a lesser extent (most would be happy with a 2 war contribution and anything above would be gravy). Obviously, that also means expecting Abreu, Eaton and Frazier to be as good or better than the last two years as well. The one difference with 2012 is that I'm not sure this defense (as currently constituted) can be one of the best in the majors the first four months. We're surely not going to use 12 rookie pitchers again. Quintana was the huge positive surprise of that season, and, unless you're counting on Anderson or Fulmer making early contributions, maybe it means Latos or Rollins have to make the same type of impact.

QUOTE (gosoxgo2005 @ Mar 3, 2016 -> 07:38 PM) The worst owners in all of sports might be the Wilpons. It's unbelievable how much Mets fans hate them. Yeah, forgot about the whole Wilpon fiasco with Madoff and the lack of excitement about the new stadium, compared to many others. Then again, with that young core of pitching and bringing back Cespedes, it would be hard to be TOO upset, and they are in the biggest market in baseball. If I was on the fence, bringing back Yoenis would be at least one positive sign. The next big question will be how they handle the decision to trade or re-sign Harvey. It's also hard to blame the ownership for what happened to David Wright's career. For worst, it's hard to top Daniel Snyder...although the Browns are doing a good job. 76ers? Loria? Donald Sterling with the Clippers was always at the top of the list before he was ousted.

QUOTE (fathom @ Mar 3, 2016 -> 06:13 PM) Watch Tigers sign him now. I really don't know what Hahn is waiting for. Which would be worse, the Cubs signing Zobrist (who can also play RF/LF), Heyward, Fowler AND bringing back Jackson as well...or the Tigers/Indians signing him? Not sure which would be more annoying, obviously he would have more impact on the Sox playing for a division rival, but geez, can we win ONE bidding war?

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Mar 3, 2016 -> 06:13 PM) Nobody said anything about comparing or feeling better. Just noting that as bad as some Sox fans feel about Sox attendance and spending, it's even worse for Cleveland fans. As a baseball fan, I feel for them. Their highest payed player makes just over 8M. The point is that Cleveland is a competitor as is and if they had more money to spend ( payroll at 90M due to being 29th in attendance in '15) , they could potentially be even more dangerous. If they had the money this winter, they could have been looking to sign one of the top FA outfielders instead of signing a guy like Davis. Also, just because the Tigers and Royals spent alot of money doesn't guarantee them winning the division. Well, in fairness, they had the longest streak of consecutive sellouts in the early to mid 90's at Jacobs Field of any MLB team in history (maybe the Red Sox beat it since?)...but those fans have had to go through two quite dramatic teardowns, one beginning in 2001-02 and then the other after 2007. If there is one fanbase who has suffered the most at the hands of ownership, other than the Marlins, it's pretty hard to think of one. TB and Oakland, there's not so much that can be done about those stadium situations.

http://nypost.com/2016/03/03/how-one-relie...e-nl-landscape/ Nice to be in the NL where you now have just eight teams realistically fighting for five playoff spots...

QUOTE (Jose Paniagua @ Mar 3, 2016 -> 04:57 PM) Indians have multiple question marks OFwise though Yeah, losing Almonte hurts...and Rajai Davis will be merely adequate. They have two huge holes just like the White Sox have, except in the outfield and 3b. But having Lindor, Kipnis and Gomes up the middle...arguably the three best at those positions in the Central unless you want to argue Sal Perez...certainly helps. They also picked up Napoli and Uribe.

Would rather have Mike or Dez Cameron.

Austin Jackson makes more sense here than the Indians, but still believe the race will be so tight nobody will need to make desperation spring training trades or provide overpays on fa's. Upton and JD give them plenty of offense. They'll just have to use Gose more often.

Cleveland is out because Brantley is coming back earlier than expected...that's all. And comparing ourselves with the Indians/Twins on spending and "feeling better" would be more palatable if the Tigers and Royals hadn't each spent $200-300 million in new money since October.

I honestly wonder if these annual visitations of the same theme of stretched or limited financial resources have been market-tested as the best way 1) to push fans off the fence to sell tickets and 2) to create the perception fans are more responsible than the organization itself for team's state of affairs? It gets really old to be told they're doing us a favor signing the likes of a Rollins instead of Desmond and how competitive ol JR is when the results are what they have been. If he is really THAT competitive, I'd really hate to see the complacent Reinsdorf. Btw, there are never quotes like that from Illitch. They just announce signings and speak with their actions.