caulfield12

And that's also assuming Frazier's second half was an anomaly and he hits the ground running in the AL. It's going to take further improvement from Rodon and a 3.5-3.75ish ERA from Johnson for us to go anywhere with all the offensive and defensive question marks. Cuurently, we have a run dating back to 2007 of not coming out of April more than 1 game over .500 and typically 3-4 games under...which would be yet another wet blanket and turn the focus back to Ventura when realistically this isn't a playoff team as presently constituted. I actually feel sorry for Ventura because he is the last target left before the blame starts migrating higher. I can't imagine having a thread about the Sox moving had we just signed Justin Upton.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 8, 2016 -> 08:28 PM) How and why would be answered if you looked at their 2004 seasons, and for El Duque, he wasn't so good for the White Sox except for 1 inning. But they were all prime bounceback candidates entering 2005. Other than Cabrera, LaRoche, the catchers and sort of Duke...we don't have as many guys with solid track records. The other main difference is how many of those guys in 2005 were close to their primes and rebounding...with the exception of El Duque.

I don't think anyone's supporting Sanders because of his eloquence (he's like a cross between Larry David and Woody Allen but taller), his style or appearance, it's almost 100% what he represents or symbolizes or a protest against the establishment. Now on those occasions like Nixon and JFK in 1960, it might have been a small factor, but less so than the Kennedy machine greasing Chicago. And, in another way, it's going to be turned against Rubio now...that he's just another more packaged, less intellectual version of Obama without the ability to do well in retail politics outside of his own bubble of advisors. The further irony here is he was taken down a peg or two by a candidate some have argued was unelectable due to his weight issues in Christie.

QUOTE (fathom @ Feb 8, 2016 -> 03:24 PM) Most of those guys weren't nearly as bad in 2004 as the 7 listed in the article were in 2015. Only Cotts had a negative WAR in 2004 I believe. How or why would Dye and AJ not be on that list? El Duque? For the White Sox, the only players with a bounceback to hope for are Cabrera and LaRoche, in terms of their prior careers. Including Jacob Turner's really pushing the definition. He's had one career year with a war of around 2.

But the Cubs essentially decided Fowler wasn't quite good enough to play center for them, supposedly. Plus they've been hyping Almora a lot recently, maybe for leverage. Based on Eaton defensively last year, the White Sox can only be 75% happy with that position. And the Rangers do make sense because DeShields surprised everyone out of nowhere but they're not sure he can repeat. There's also talk of moving Profar to CF if he can't handle the infield this spring. Justin Ruggiano is the backup and he's not an everyday CFer, either. But is Fowler?

Depends on how confident they are in Piscotty and Grichuk. Plus, losing two players to the Cubs, turnabout is fair play.

In one of those ESPN pieces, the two best markets were supposedly going back to Montreal (for Tampa) and the San Jose area (for the A's). Charlotte, San Antonio, Portland, Mexico City, OKC, Las Vegas....were some of the main options mentioned.

And also thought it was spelled Gourriel previously as well. One of them played in Japan recently, if i remember corrrectly. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yulieski_Gourriel Yeah, he's the one we all remember from the first WBC....played 2b, then 3b and some SS. http://www.draysbay.com/2016/2/8/10937180/...ki-gurriel-cuba Better story with video. Weird it says oldest brother is playing in Quebec at age 33. He's likely to be $70-100 million. Definitely more than Olivera. Will be in big leagues pretty much from Day 1.

Depends where I was living at the time partially, but would remain a fan as long as franchise name stayed attached...and partially depending on new ownership situation. Cardinals are my NL team, would never root for Cubs no matter what.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/20...ve-never-heard/ Breitbart hammers Rubio on his role with the Gang of 8... http://www.vox.com/2016/2/8/10938582/marco-rubio-debate Why can't Rubio perform like this more consistently?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 8, 2016 -> 09:23 AM) There will always be players to add and trades that can be made. It was written on this board the White Sox had zero chance this offseason to improve their offense without trade Quintana. It appears they have been able to do it. As long as you are willing to pick up money one way or another, you will be able to acquire desirable players. I think it would be more accurate to say the best way to put a playoff contender on the field would be to trade Quintana for a Shelby Miller-like return and go all-in for 2017...or deal him for someone like Puig and patch the rotation with Latos/Fister/Lincecum, etc. To say there was zero chance to improve...well just replacing Flowers, 2b, DH and Garcia with 1 war players would have been a pretty substantial improvement. And the question isn't so much about improvement as good enough to earn a playoff spot at this point.

Let's say they are at their budget limit, just for argument's sake. How would they expect to get even better bargains or have more resources this time next year? It seems the only way is for this year's team to actually make the playoffs. If they don't, they're back in the same situation with even less negotiating leverage with more teams holding more dollars/revenue chasing fewer assets. I can just see it...now that Danks and LaRoche are off the books, there won't be many good fits left for the White Sox to bid on. And, from the rumors flying around, the Jays are already trying to extend Bautista and Encarnacion, leaving Colby Rasmus and Carlos Gomez as two of the top five hitters on next year's market, along with Cespedes, who I'm sure everyone will agree we likely won't be able to afford.

If they offered Gordon four years and $75 million, that would be yet another indication. Or Cespedes, three years and roughly the same amount. 400+ pages wouldn't be in the Cespedes thread if many didn't believe he was a realistic target. Otherwise, we'd have to believe it was all media spin doctoring and more or less a game to build fan interest in the offseason. Is that logical? That everything out there was completely disingenuous and a smokescreen to drive up prices for the Tigers and Royals?

double post/delete

QUOTE (greg775 @ Feb 8, 2016 -> 01:23 AM) Caulfield, I respect your political posts. It's obvious you know your s***. Tell me what's going to happen in terms of both parties and then the general election. Greg, I honestly have no idea. The betting money's still on Rubio, but if he finishes third or fourth in NH, he almost has to take second in SC. As for the Dems, Hillary still has a 70-80% chance at the nomination, but it will drag on nearly as long as 2008 and she will be even more battered and bruised than that primary season. If I was a Republican, I'd hope to keep Rubio/Kasich or Haley as my most viable general election ticket. If Rubio continues to flounder under scrutiny, a Kasich/Christie ticket would be extremely tough to beat as well. A lot of Dems might be more accepting of Kasich than Clinton by November. If Hillary wanted to unite the party, she would run with Liz Warren, but that's almost impossible to imagine thse two cooperating. As far as the general election, the Democrats are a 2-3% favorite but a lot can and will change in the next nine months.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/05/politics/san...ef=rss_politics Not a great look for the Sanders campaign on corporate/financial sector fundraising...

https://www.yahoo.com/politics/women-who-su...-234239662.html And here comes the backlash from the Albright and Steinem comments. The funny thing to me is Bill Clinton pissed off everyone in South Carolina eight years ago...yet African-Americans are overwhelmingly supporting Clinton when the majority of Sanders' goals are seemingly more directly lined with their self interests in comparison to Hillary's "bite-sized" plans that poll well. The major difference is that he continues to frame his populism in economic/social class frame of reference rather than in racism/sexism/discrimination terms. Another interesting development is how quick the Clinton camp was to claim a technical win when Sanders clearly had the most supporters in terms of sheer numbers at the caucuses...and this in the face of her blowing a 56-5 lead in support a year ago. Also not helping is Elizabeth Warren not endorsing but pretty much now a surrogate for Sanders. Wonder if Caroline Kennedy and Oprah go for Sanders this time like they did for Obama eight years ago?

So all the money to pay Tanaka $125 million, or Shark $90 million for his extension at this time last year, has simply disappeared? I guess we should be grateful, because those would have been two more debacles, but not because the White Sox didn't have the resources. And Shark, by definition, wasn't really in the true prime of his career either, although I suppose they would argue his lack of innings pitched and concentration on football made him more like a 27-28 year old pitcher in terms of wear and tear.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 7, 2016 -> 08:37 PM) Dude, I know it's your posting style, but 3 of the 4 unrelated clauses are about the Republicans. This thread doesn't need your speculations about how Republican debate performances will impact Republican poll results. We have a thread for that. Then at least the Hillary Clinton discussion should pretend to be about substance...and ideology, rather than personal characteristics. Mexsoxfan mentioned Trump as GOAT but he actually has a very good chance at the Republican nomination again thanks to Rubio.

Illinois is so bad the Iowa/Illinois match-up doesn't even get a mention. Weird times. As far as IND goes, see OU at KSU. Huge game this week in Bloomington for both programs. Sole possession of first and true inside track on the B10 at stake for the Hawkeyes (and quite likely 1 seed). First time Iowa has gotten #1 votes since late 1980's....never saw it coming this season http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball...ma-loses-to-ksu

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 6, 2016 -> 08:51 AM) Only if you needlessly try to complicate things. Which teams would you currently cite, or cite specifically for their 2015 seasons?

Depending on how badly Rubio got dinged by the debate, Trump might still be the favorite and GOAT. Unless Bush/Christie shift all their support behind Kasich. Can Kasich be dynamic and inspirational enough to tear off support? It seems Trump will have his 25% and Cruz his Santorum/Huckabee/Tea Party coalition of 15-17.5% https://www.yahoo.com/politics/hillary-clin...-210913805.html Probably not the best way to get young Democratic women back to your side.... http://www.salon.com/2016/02/07/its_almost..._rigged_system/ It's almost over for Hillary

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Feb 7, 2016 -> 08:18 AM) The Cards picked up Gyorko to back up the IF. That's why Desmond doesn't make much sense unless the Cards plan on Desmond playing LF? I doubt Toronto has any interest or need for Desmond. That's an expensive way to back up an infield that has depth already and the same can be said for the OF. Desmond makes much more sense for the Sox than Toronto or the Cards. That's not to say the Sox will actually sign Desmond. They could move Peralta to 1b and bench Adams. Don't see how he would be competing with Gyorko for playing time. The other option is Holliday to first and Desmond in the outfield. http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/i...orth-the-gamble

In the end, most typical fans don't care very much about excuses or rationalizations.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Feb 7, 2016 -> 11:37 AM) Rubio is still somewhere walking around muttering that Obama knows what he's doing and America will be great again. Ironically trying to counter the fact that he's not another version of the inexperienced and unprepared Obama by saying how effective he is at destroying the country isn't the greatest argument in the world. Nor is citing your own accomplishments when you don't actually show up for the votes but simultaneously dinging Obama for golfing when GW Bush doing the same or hanging out at his Crawford ranch was just being a man's man.