caulfield12

Right now, the only thing that matters is beating three and most likely four AL Central opponents...Detroit has arguably improved as much if not more, the Indians are a little better (Brantley is the biggest x factor), KC is 3-5 games worse and the Twins inexplicably waiting back for the trade deadline infuriating their fans who are impatient with the Pohlads.

Hillary has been bleeding support from young people and the disaffected whites who in large majorities voted for her over Obama in 2008. Trump actually got around 40% from Hispanics, women and evangelicals in NV, which is kind of amazing when you consider his comments on Mexicans, immigration, border walls and the Pope. Otoh, 20% more of the voters in NV were mad/angry with their government compared to the first three states. Remember, the Bundys are from there. Cruz has to win TX. Kasich is done. And Trump's way up on Rubio in his home state of Florida. At any rate, his attack on Rubio from here on out is simple..."Marco, you'd make a great VP but you're just not ready to be the top dog." And he can keep playing the card of the GOP and Priebus are being unfair, so he'll just go independent and make it impossible to beat Clinton or protect the SC nomination. That's a big risk to take, deliberately alienating him and having a repeat of 1964 with Goldwater.

Supposedly 3 years and $42-48 million...similar to the deal Melky Cabrera signed, at the low side. Pushed the value down about $10 million because of the QO, so he essentially got a similar deal to Denard Span, whose name has kind of been forgotten as one of the other options we passed on.

Austin...unless the Mariners' Jackson has had a breakthrough.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/baltimo...0223-story.html No opt outs or club options....3 years and $35 million, will play RF with Jones remaining in center.

Arm strength....but that's not enough to cancel out the other defensive issues.

QUOTE (LDF @ Feb 24, 2016 -> 01:01 AM) i would add kemp in that list ref to sunders, that is if you are talking about Michael Saunders - tor, i think he was the one that held up the 3 way trade with him still being hurt or something. i really don't know the whole thing. Prospect going from LAA to Cincy was in question due to health...

http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/stats/_/id/2...ichael-saunders Saunders put up a 759 ops against rhp in 2013/14 and a 2.4 war as recently as 2014. Seems he would still be available...

The main thing is that OPS+ number doesn't account for defense, and since there's now such a huge swing towards WAR evaluation, the fact that he's around a 0 means even a pretty decent level of offensive improvement (which isn't guaranteed) leaves him at a 0.75-1.50 number. As far as LaRoche goes, the effort to dump him on the Pirates for pennies on the dollar and his current status is solely about budgets and soft payroll ceilings. It certainly seems LaRoche is going to be given the opportunity to hit for at least 2-3 months, and maybe even be the full-time DH, whether the fans like it or not. So perhaps not focusing on LaRoche is more about that frustration (and the lack of desire to argue about it) and the fact that fans have come up with the concept of combining Avi and LaRoche into one DH and removing him from the outfield altogether, where he does the most damage to his WAR and team defense/DRS. So it's not anything to do with favoring LaRoche, certainly, but more to do with the fact that it was EASY to imagine a 2-3-4 WAR improvement in one fell swoop with the addition of a Justin Upton/Cespedes/Gordon. Because DH doesn't lend itself to those dramatic swings because of the point correction for being only a hitter, the positive correction for improving DH with a platoon in the world of WAR means only a 1 game correction, rather than the 2-4 many were hoping/expecting with a replacement for Garcia. And another part of it's probably Garcia's age, the fact that he was getting booed at SoxFest, fans genuinely seem to like him and maybe they feel a change of scenery trade with a non-contending team would be best. And we know that LaRoche isn't going anywhere until he re-establishes himself as an offensive presence, which would of course make it more unlikely that we would trade him with his contract expiring this year (unless we're out of the race again).

https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverythi...omepage%2Fstory Actually an article from the Washington Post on the reason why the Republicans didn't try to stop Trump (until it was too late)...buried within was a quite interesting section (and comparison) with the concept of pitch framing and why it's already waning in influence (and partially explaining another reason why Tyler Flowers wasn't retained). "In short, over the past year or so catchers who were historically skilled at pitch framing stopped having consistent success at it. What’s puzzling about this is that over the past decade, new data about the location of pitched balls made it easier for teams to use catchers who were excellent pitch framers. So what happened? Sullivan’s hypothesis is that because of all the analysis of this phenomenon, umpires are now cognizant of pitch framing. They responded to the new data by becoming more suspicious of catchers who are really good at it: ...but the unu s ual thing about thi s i s it ’ s related only s omewhat to actual on-field talent. The re s t i s in the hand s of the umpire s , and at s ome point, umpire s were going to catch wind of what wa s ta k ing place. And then they could have a re s pon s e, becau s e umpire s don ’ t want to be manipulated, not intentionally and not for a team ’ s direct gain. So, in other words, analysts noticed a real thing in baseball, analyzed it, and quantified it — but because the umpires care about this stuff as well, they internalized this analysis and changed the way they called the game, thereby obviating the analysis to some degree."

Trump is well ahead ahead in Nevada with over 11% counted... 44% to 24% for Rubio and 21% for Cruz. Carson and especially Kasich buried. Now all the stops come out from the Republican establishment to push Kasich (first to go) and God knows what influence they'll be able to exert over Ted Cruz, since that relationship is about as frayed as the Trump/GOP leadership "half truce" with Priebus. Carson, undoubtedly, will continue to be largely ignored and push through at least into Super Tuesday.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Feb 23, 2016 -> 11:29 PM) That would be hysterically amazing. I would even include Quinarvy with Beck in the trade, but I'd probably miss seeing his signature quotes too much. However, we should be willing to part with all the extra bags of balls we got back for Beckham from the Angels and in the Alex Rios/Leury Garcia deal as well.

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Feb 23, 2016 -> 11:21 PM) Would you trade Beck to the Dodgers for Trayce back? Talk me out of it. In isolation, I'd make that trade every time because it would be very helpful to have an excellent defender/pinch-runner and also a guy with some offensive pop coming off the bench. That's if it is the final move and no other options are left. Assuming they're not going to sign Austin Jackson, it's more than likely we're choosing between Shuck, Sands and whatever veteran castoffs/misfits are wiped out by waivers the last two weeks of spring. Once again, I'd rather have Thompson in that case (going with the youngster over a veteran)...but it's still not easy to be convinced the White Sox would actually start Thompson over Garcia and make Avi into LaRoche's DH partner. If KW is making the decisions, I'm sure he and Harrelson would love to get Carl Crawford in a Josh Hamilton-like deal where the Sox are paying almost nothing...

We all know how important April is for the White Sox, and, going all the way back to 2007, we've never been more than 1 game over .500 and more commonly are 2-5 games under after one bone-chilling month. It clearly seems the White Sox are going to go with all veterans (with the possible exception of Avi) and push for that quick (or at least relatively quick) start that doesn't get them buried in the very beginning stretch of games.

And if you look at the list of "left-handed run producers," not even considering position and fielding ability, the list is quite limited. Prince Fielder, CarGo, Adam Lind, Jay Bruce, Mitch Moreland (probably not available anyway), Ryan Howard, Pedro Alvarez, Josh Reddick, Dickerson (already traded), Blackmon, Justin Morneau, Brandon Moss, Chase Utley, Domonic Brown, Josh Hamilton, Pablo Sandoval, Daniel Murphy (already signed) So essentially, you're very quickly down to CarGo, Bruce, maybe Ethier, Josh Reddick and taking fliers on either Alvarez or Domonic Brown...

That's the problem, there aren't any perfect candidates left right now. We spent weeks debating how imperfect Gordon, Cespedes and Upton were, and whether any of them could even be considered "superstars"/impact bats/difference makers, etc. So it's no surprise we can pick apart all of the remaining candidates: Jackson=Boras client, terrible offensive slumps the last two seasons, no clear or obvious reason for decline Bruce=too expensive, defensive liability, strong downward trend offensively Saunders=injury prone Ethier=too expensive, shouldn't play much against lefties, not a great defender but certainly capable Crawford=only in the case of the Dodgers eating almost all of his remaining contract, injury-prone Markakis=too expensive to pay for high OBP with no power and declining defense Victorino=old, injury-prone, could be a quite productive player for the right price but ONLY if healthy Alex Rios=just put here to annoy Greg with the possibility Guyer=Rays rarely trade their "platoon/supersub studs" for anything less than full value and often see declines outside of TB system

http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/royals...reds/ar-AAdwrBZ http://www.kansascity.com/sports/mlb/kansa...le29118175.html Ben Zobrist made $7.5 million last year, so the Reds paid $2 million and KC $500,000 for the last two months of the season. At any rate, I never said they didn't pick up any money last season, I said that it wasn't picked up for Zobrist and Cueto. If you want to argue about 20% vs. 80%, have at it. If you can find where I expressed this idea in relation to anyone besides those two, have at it. As for Cueto, the Rabbit/Bucket of Suck who writes about their internal issues claimed the money coming from Cincy nearly covered that contract as well. If you want to argue about financial subsidies and "actual" payrolls vs. what's reported, have at it.

QUOTE (shakes @ Feb 23, 2016 -> 01:14 PM) Why do you keep insisting the Sox should sell the team if funds are tight? Their projected opening day payroll is roughly $120 million. That's higher than 20 teams opening payrolls in 2015. Should teams like the Cubs, Mariners, Astros, Royals and Orioles have to sell their teams last year? Because their payrolls a year ago were less than the Sox will be this year. And I'm not sure you understand the Tilting at Windmills idiom. http://wtop.com/sports/2015/12/2015-final-baseball-payrolls/ The White Sox are 16th here at the end of 2015...almost exactly the mode. Part of the reason was not adding anything at the trade deadline or in August. There are another six teams within $10 million or so just below the Sox. You also have the Mets, Pirates and Astros making the playoffs with lower payrolls. Interestingly, that 16th-22nd/23rd spot (3rd quartile) and beyond in payroll has seen only one World Series team in the past 23 years.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 23, 2016 -> 12:13 PM) Because different players make different impacts on teams and the box office. It's a big deal if the Sox sign Cespedes, not so much if they sign Fowler. Take Desmond. I'm sure the Sox wouldn't mind having Ian Desmond on their roster, but apparently not at the cost of a draft pick and the money difference for Jimmy Rollins. I am sure they wouldn't mind having Fowler on their team either, but apparently not at the price he is asking even though they could pay it without the checks bouncing. I think one thing you are missing is there are a lot of teams that could use these guys. But Gordon and Cespedes liked where they were. Upton went to a team that doesn't care how much it costs. No one has signed Fowler. No one has signed Desmond. No one has signed Jackson. How are the White Sox cheap but not the rest of the league? Who have the Yankees signed this offseason? If they don't make a run at Harper, Machado, etc., after the 2018 season...everyone will be shocked. While that's a long window to wait for a player, when you're going to make a $400-500 million investment in a player, you have to plan it out ahead of time and budget accordingly. The Yankees might have gotten the steal of the offseason in Chapman because the charges were dropped, and they also have some pretty nice looking prospects coming up in their system. Finally, I would imagine no team would be all-in with so much riding on the likes of Sabathia, Tanaka, Pineda, etc. They just have to cross their fingers all their veteran hitters like ARod, Beltran, Tex, McCann, Ellsbury, Gardner, don't all crumble at the same time or there won't be much they can do.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/sources--jay-...-055142108.html because of concerns about one the Angels' prospect/s going to the Reds Reds at least one prospect, according to multiple sources. The players, one of the sources said, had been agreed upon and the deal was contingent on a review of medical records. http://sports.yahoo.com/news/sources--jay-...-055142108.html

Saying something like that is pretty out there. If he had said 90 win floor, that would be at least bordering on non-controversial, although some would certainly make cases that with major pitching injuries, defensive problems, sophomore slumps that ending up in the 83-87 win total wouldn't be completely out of the bounds of reality.

As a Democrat, the feeling must be something similar to Republican sentiment regarding the candidacies of Romney, McCain and Dole. Clinton's a very flawed candidate, and it's very hard to get excited about her potential presidency, but she is the very clear favorite right now. https://iemweb.biz.uiowa.edu/quotes/Pres16_quotes.html 65% to 34% odds, "winner take all" at the moment.

Yes, Greensox, in the overall scheme of things, that's true. It's just that we've heard over and over again about them attempting to dump LaRoche to create some "free" money, "three year max contracts," etc. It's also been mentioned repeatedly how those two deals are off the books at the end of the year, so the only REAL issue in terms of immediate payroll concerns is getting through 2016 without losing too much money. (Obviously, for all we know, they could put out a $135 million payroll and still not take a loss...so we're just best guessing it right now.)

Largely because they never have the depth or quality with exceptions like Santos, Reed and Santiagoon the pitching side. We all know the story on the position player side of the ledger.

Sitting behind Brandon Crawford/Panik vs. facing Saladino and the injury possibilities with Lawrie to get time at 2b as well...pretty obvious choice, despite the league change.