caulfield12

Everyone would have us as the favorite with Upton in the outfield. That said, we were the big winners last year at this point, too. More than likely, the 2014-15 offseason and the repercussions of carrying Danks, Cabrera and LaRoche has forced the front office into a more "year by year," risk-averse position. Upton was the one clear "huge" improvement that in hindsight was realistic, but if he wasn't interested, it probably would have been an unmitigated disaster to still try to bring him onboard. Nevertheless, we still have Jackson to argue about, and probably Fowler/Desmond (one of them, at least) in June too...

The other problem with Nate Jones is the harder he throws, the flatter it gets...while it makes the slider more effective with the velocity differential, his fb becomes much more hittable, especially behind in the count.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Feb 22, 2016 -> 05:29 PM) Rollins had a .2 WAR last year. Saladino had a .2 WAR last year. But suddenly the SS hole is filled. But by all means, let's go with the 37 year old, instead of the 2nd year player. He's "proven". Still far better to at least have two options rather than one, Saladino has the best skillset to be a superutility guy (compared to Sanchez)....Saladino will always be the fallback option, and so will Ian Desmond in June if the Sox are getting good results everywhere but SS and have no major injuries. It's also going to test how much Saladino and Sanchez want it...and pushes Leury Garcia one more step from the MLB roster.

QUOTE (shipps @ Feb 22, 2016 -> 05:14 PM) Seeing this might of rattled him a bit maybe its exactly what Anderson needs and not so much just something to light a fire under Saladino. Watching what has previously happened with Semien, Micah, Trayce, Sanchez/Saladino, Erik Johnson, the pressure on Garcia and him getting booed at a fan fest...must give a Sox prospect pause. You'd hope it has a positive effect, and it should for the best players. And, all that said, Anderson's a tremendously talented and quietly confident kid, and hopefully has a career arc more like Rodon than any of those aforementioned names.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Feb 22, 2016 -> 04:51 PM) There were fewer of those as I recall. Either way, Rollins was better than Alexei last year and by all projections is expected to be better this year. It was more shock/surprise we were finally turning the page...and partly the Abreu comfort factor, which is now less important two years in.

Good move. Shane Victorino is in the BSOHL and will be the final piece, haha. What would amaze me is if they don't at least bring in the equivalent amount of competition for Garcia. We found Sanchez/Micah lacking, Trayce is gone, Flowers, Alexei, Beckham finally...Garcia and LaRoche are next. Latos puts some pressure on Johnson and Danks, etc. All things considered, a better team than a year ago, but still at least one player away, in all likelihood. Seems the KW influence with Hahn on the contract side.

QUOTE (southside hitman @ Feb 22, 2016 -> 08:58 AM) Either via trade or just depth for inevitable injuries/under performance, it is always a smart idea to have as many live arms you can. If you look at our options if something happens to our incumbent LOOGY's Jenning/Duke, the Lamb trade makes a lot of sense. As for Kahnle, there just isn't that many humans who can hit the upper 90's consistently. Coop will fix em' Mr. Cleto says hi. There are actually a ton of relievers now consistently hitting 96-98...not nearly so rare as a decade ago.

QUOTE (coco1997 @ Feb 22, 2016 -> 09:24 AM) Why is that? Because he's not even cleared yet to sign and the timetable usually ends up 2-4 months longer than speculated...then he would need a minimum of 6-8 weeks to get his timing. Since he hasn't played a regular schedule of games for nearly a year, it might take even longer. We're talking something like the 16th ranked of the remaining Cubans...so the projection is probably more of a fourth outfielder than an impact player/regular. http://www.baseballamerica.com/internation...north-carolina/ He wouldn't be bad as an option for 2017, but he won't be a savior this season. The elder Gourriel brother is the only true instant impact position player on the market right now. And he's yet to be cleared as well.

Or the Angels...

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 22, 2016 -> 07:19 AM) There is nothing that says he needs it drained again. Andre Dawson probably leads the world in having knees drained, had fluid on his knees almost his entire career, and is in the HOF. While it would be better there wasn't excess fluid in his knee, we have no idea the cause, we have some idea of the severity. He is participating in spring training. As someone who does get fluid from time to time and had my knee drained once, it could be a big deal, it might be nothing. He worked with a physical therapist this offseason strengthening the area. Perhaps they overdid it. But we don't know. Draining the knee isn't the only way to get fluid out of there. And it hurts a lot. Hahn said he hoped the injuries were behind him. If this was a big issue right now, he probably would have mentioned it. Why would it be helpful to lower your negotiating position with another team or free agent until you have to....? I guess the better question is why is the Daily Herald seemingly making a bigger deal out of it than the Trib or Sun-Times?

Okay, he had surgery two years ago, fluid drained last year and needs it again...that's probably not the most positive indicator from a physical standpoint.

Three new Todd Frazier articles appearing almost simultaneously... http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...0221-story.html https://www.yahoo.com/sports/news/3b-frazie...45509--mlb.html http://www.csnchicago.com/white-sox/todd-f...&ocid=yahoo

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Feb 21, 2016 -> 09:01 PM) There's a reason the Sox got him at the price they did -- his medicals. Fluid in the knee is just a symptom of structural damage and is the body's response to injury so in itself it tells us nothing other than something isn't right in his knee. Now, pitching isn't exactly golf but it's not basketball either. Can they manage the pain and swelling and can he pitch through some soreness and stiffness? Who knows. He probably will be skipping starts left and right so Johnson better be ready. Some would argue golf, with all the torque on the back/hips/knees (see Tiger Woods' body falling apart in his mid 30's)...is getting to be pretty comparable to a pitcher throwing or a batter swinging violently, but your point is well taken. When Contreras went down with his lower body injuries in 2006, he never was the same pitcher again.

Political tradition...although Nevada being added earlier in the schedule was a result of that, at least from the Democratic side, where they wanted a more "inclusive" state with an array of ethnic/minority (Hispanic as well instead of primarily African-American/white) groups that was more comparable with some of those more diverse swing states. And yes, you could make a legitimate argument that the primary season in 2008 stretching out for so long gave the Obama group a huge head start as they contested primaries in many of those later swing states in March/April against Clinton and already had their ground game well organized for the fall.

I think recurring fluid problems related to cartilage (and we have zero idea if 90 cubic centimeters of fluid drained two years ago is particularly significant or not) that are ongoing for two years now aren't completely minor because of 1) his size, 2) the fact that he's seen a decrease in velocity of roughly 1.5 MPH from his prime years with the Reds, although we'd have to look month by month last year at the fangraphs charts, as there were indications of velocity coming back a bit more the 2nd half, 3) the fact that his injury treatments/prognosis and readiness to pitch have caused issues in the past with at least one training staff.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Feb 21, 2016 -> 07:54 AM) Haha no, benghazi has been a four year long partisan witch hunt. Let's just say there is some blame to spread around and also a series of contradictory statements about what it was and wasn't (cya)...that said, it's not a disqualifier. It's also much more subtle and nuanced than the Michael Bay movie would have you believe, obviously. Of course, the Clintons have turned every event into right wing conspiracy/partisan witch hunt for 32 years now. I guess you can't fault them completely, because it has been effective to a large extent. Even arguing recently Citizens United was targeted at stopping them, although that's more dubious.

Astrill is pretty good...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mat_Latos He's really struggled with that left knee for two full years now. 90 cubic centimeters of fluid drained early in 2014. Apparently it's cartilage and not ligament related, but it seems to have not healed 100% and perhaps has deteriorated over time. Also had to deal with bone chips in his elbow and an abdominal strain over the last two years.

QUOTE (Brian @ Feb 21, 2016 -> 05:44 AM) Rumor Trump is going to select that sheriff from AZ as his VP if he gets the nomination. That's political suicide. It would be like the Stockdale choice for Perot. He would be age 84 on election day. Every Democrat and independent in the country would be scared to death of him being a heartbeat from the presidency and nuclear codes. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Arpaio He would also be hammered over the head with paragraph 2.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/04/politics/hil...rice/index.html Greg, would it surprise you at all that Condoleeza Rice and Colin Powell did the exact same thing? By and large, most people think it's a partisan witch hunt...whereas with Benghazi, there's more legit criticism based on how the State Department mishandled that situation.

Barring a major new finding with the e-mail scandal, it's back to normal again in the Democratic Party. Would have been a real test of her campaign staff if she managed to lose Nevada but more pragmatic voters won out in the end. She's also going to figure out why she's not doing very well with Hispanics going forward. Who wins between Trump and Rubio is basically the only compelling media storyline left to play out before the conventions.

Now the Republicans have to get Kasich to drop out (with the possibility of the VP spot dangled for being a good soldier) and try to push the GOP establishment money and macine 100% behind Rubio. Carson's votes will (eventually) mostly go to Cruz and Trump...but he'll stay in at least through Super Tuesday in all likelihood. Finally, just keep arguing Cruz is another Santorum/Huckabee, doesn't have anyone of significance who wants to endorse or work with him and that he's too divisive because of his religious fundamentalism to win a national election.

QUOTE (ChiSoxFanMike @ Feb 20, 2016 -> 06:55 PM) The O's can have Fowler. It makes more sense for the Sox to keep the pick and sign Austin Jackson or Yadiel Hernandez instead. The chances of Hernandez being able to make much of an impact this season for the Sox are very slim.

Who took Rongey's place?

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Feb 20, 2016 -> 12:43 PM) What does any of this have to do with 2nd tier free agents, the contracts they seek and the comp picks attached to those free agents? The situation for White Sox and Orioles fans is quite distinct. They can afford $150 million payrolls and contracts that are almost double the biggest in Sox history. How are the fan experiences and expectations similar when they're clearly all-in and willing to sacrifice the future for the present? I'm also quite sure there are not 400+ pages dedicated to Yoenis Cespedes on their boards even though they made a bigger offer. As far as compensation picks go, we've run that topic into the ground for weeks. There's not anything particularly new or insightful to add that hasn't already been covered at length.