caulfield12

QUOTE (Wanne @ Aug 17, 2016 -> 09:03 PM) yeah...but it seems that Eaton really didn't get to the peak of his value than this year. Nobody really knew who was gonna show up. This version of Adam Eaton is an All-Star and he just seems to get better and better. And like a broken record...unless you get an obscene haul for Sale or Q...you don't trade them. Trading Eaton at any time is a ridiculous thought... Unless you can find another GM who values him (appropriately) as a Top 8-10 MLB outfielder. How likely is he to repeat that (he's been a little bit up and down, year to year, in his career and within seasons)? Is he MORE likely to repeat that performance as long as he remains in RF, his most comfortable position? Otoh, he's clearly their most valuable overall performer this season. You take him away, that leaves Cabrera and Frazier (both gone after next year) and Abreu. Other than that, the only remaining player you can project as being above average (at least WAR-wise, at his position) is undoubtedly Tim Anderson.

Robertson has somehow managed to more than double his walk ratio from last year... Fwiw, the first EIGHT (8) hitters in the CLE lineup tonight had 800+ OPS figures on the season. The White Sox have ONE (Justin Morneau), unless you include Omar Narvaez.

Well, at least Eaton, Q and Sale give you three huge assets to choose from in making an offseason trade...

Tim Anderson: Walk/OBP Machine Nice to see him trending back into the low 700's for OPS. 750 might be a realistic expectation if he can just up his walk total to 5% or so, hopefully 7.5% but that might be dreaming for now.

What did Abreu do (or not do) now? Does he still have negative overall statistical value with this recent "hot streak"?

The irony, and Dick Allen always brought this up (incessantly), is how much the "lift and pull" supposed strategy of Greg Walker resulted in inconsistent results (lots of blowouts either way, lots of close losses), but at least the offenses under his "regime" were average or even above average. Steverson almost floats below the radar...and he even has an assistant coach, to boot. Walker didn't get Fletcher until the very end. (Or maybe I'm confusing that with what the Braves did.) Of course, you can also argue that having AJ, Dye, Crede, Thome, Konerko, Quentin...the results for Walker SHOULD have been much better, comparatively.

2. Robin Ventura, Chicago White Sox The fact that Ventura was kept on to manage in 2016 was puzzling. Chicago was 85-77 in his first year, but it did not finish better than 76-86 in the subsequent three seasons. This year, it’s been more of the same. The White Sox sit at 56-61 and are well out of playoff position. This is despite the fact that the Sox were one of baseball’s best teams in the early going, starting the year 23-10. The South Siders also had a busy offseason, landing guys like Brett Lawrie and Todd Frazier. Chicago was built to contend this year, but that simply has not happened. As if all of that wasn’t enough, that clubhouse seems chaotic from the outside looking in. Whether it was the Adam LaRoche saga in spring training or Chris Sale taking a knife to the team’s 1976 jerseys, the stories coming out of this team’s clubhouse have been bizarre. That reflects on the manager. Granted, much of that may be as much of a reflection on the front office as it is on Ventura, but the front office will not fire itself. Ventura won’t be so lucky. Now, none of that is to say that (Chip) Hale should be blamed for the poor record. But this situation is very much like the one in Chicago with the White Sox. Dave Stewart and Tony LaRussa aren’t likely to fire themselves for the bad personnel decisions they made. Blaming the manager is the more likely play. With that in mind, the odds certainly aren’t great for Hale to keep his job in 2017. Of course, Hale is ONLY in his SECOND year on the job. https://www.yahoo.com/sports/m/f083e8a7-9b2...-danger-of.html

QUOTE (soxforlife05 @ Aug 17, 2016 -> 04:09 PM) JR is definitely cheap. Isn't Abreu our biggest contract ever? It was only 68 mill. That's A's, Indians, Pirates, and Royals territory. Won't get it done going forward and people are just going to collectively start tuning this teaming if it does. Front office is delusional. Gordon was $72 million guaranteed, and Ian Kennedy another $70 million. So that's two bigger than Abreu out of the smallest local t.v. market in MLB.

http://www.mlbdailydish.com/2016/8/16/1250...urprise-rebuild This would be perfect for JR to see...granted, it probably wouldn't change his "all in" nonsensical plan one bit. But here it was the White Sox should have done, and we're going to be paying the price eventually for not doing so if any of our key assets like Sale/Q/Rodon go down to significant injuries. Rebuilding teams, in general, got some surprisingly high marks in this poll (MLB Daily Dish Confidence Survey). The Brewers, Yankees, Phillies, and Braves all also finished with a composite score higher than 4.0. That said, the Reds, Twins, Rays, and Athletics finished near the bottom. And it’s amazing that the response from Padres fans has been this swift and this positive after falling on their faces so recently. Maybe Padres fans are simply smart enough to see the direction the club is going and are eager to jump on the bandwagon now. Perhaps there’s an innate optimism that comes from living in such a beautiful climate and watching games in an amazing ballpark. Or maybe the Padres are simply better at communicating with their fans about their expectations and how those moves fit into the team’s rebuild. Whatever the reason, it will be interesting to see what happens when some of these prospects inevitably hit bumps in the road and don’t develop as expected. Will that optimism survive, or will those fans (and Preller’s bosses) be patient enough to let him see this through.

Did he qualify for a pension already?

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ Aug 16, 2016 -> 07:40 PM) The Chicago White Sox aren't going anywhere anytime soon. They are 12th in MLB in TV revenue, and only $3M separates them from being in the top ten in all of baseball in that all-important revenue stream. You couple that with the massive revenue-friendly sweetheart lease deal they enjoy, and they won't get a more profitable deal in any another city. This also dispels the myth that the team somehow operates in a "limited resources" environment. The facts as just referenced support quite the contrary. http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/estimated-t...l-30-mlb-teams/ Haven't had a chance to read the article yet, but I feel that Seattle is the "best case scenario" for the media rights deal in Chicago...which would put them somewhere in the vicinity of $118 million per season. The Royals have their deal coming up at roughly the same time as the Sox and Cubs and they're targeting the $75-85 million range, although that could certainly fall back if they struggle with their planned-for rebuild (and players like Gordon, Kennedy or Perez are injured/struggle). In that case, they'd likely be closer to $65-70 million per season. And that's with the Royals having by far the best local television ratings over the last couple of years of any market, with that honor going back and forth with the Cardinals. So essentially,the question about relocation becomes one of what market in North American would provide: 1) $100+ million per season from the local RSN 2) A publicly financed stadium/facility and impossibly friendly lease agreement 3) Control over parking Hard to imagine Montreal having that type of t.v. money in play. What do the Blue Jays get, btw?

Ventura shouldn't worry about Coats hitting against Kluber, versus Shuck. Just let him hit and see what he can do. Nobody except Robin wants to see JB. Anderson picking it up again hitting lower in the lineup...grtting more fastballs at that spot in the order.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 16, 2016 -> 05:31 PM) For those not watching, hawk is going on and on about how great Francona is. Good thing sox took Ventura. Greg is smiling at Lawrence Applebee's.

More excellent outfield play by Shuck. Luckily, Lindor's not on 3b. Sigh. We're supposed to get an early 1-0 lead and then expect Q to inexplicably hold it. At least that's the usual modus operandi.

Can they just broadcast the Field of Greens golf tourney two weeks from now instead of a Sox game? That would be a lot more compelling tv. That's also the only thing left for Harrelson to look forward to this year.

QUOTE (Sleepy Harold @ Aug 16, 2016 -> 04:42 PM) More From WSD, FWIW I didn't hear the call, but the latter seems like his opinion to me. It would 2018 for the farm system. And why exactly would he trust Hahn and KW to make trades of Sale or Q, Eaton, Abreu, Frazier, Cabrera, Robertson and Jones at the trade deadline NEXT year if they fail yet again to put a contender together? Let's not forget, the Indians have been without their best player (probably second to Lindor now) all season, KC missing a combination of top 5-7 players (Moustakas, Davis, Cain, Gordon for half the season) at different points...and the Tigers with an extremely dangerous offense, much larger payroll, resurgent Verlander along with the discovery of Fulmer. Even Minnesota's offense has buried a number of good teams in recent months and they have more help coming from their superior farm system.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Aug 16, 2016 -> 01:52 PM) Well respected around the league, and not really given a chance to put his stamp on the team. There are now 2 reports in 2 of the last 3 years where Hahn wanted to rebuild only to be shot down by JR and KW. The trades where Hahn has "sold" on, they were pretty damn good trades. Peavy netted Montas (who got Frazier), Wendelken (who got Lawrie), Avi, and Rondon. Santiago got Eaton. Jennings for Rienzo. Almonte for Beckham (then traded for Kahnle, still hate that trade). Duke for Tilson. Overall not bad when we sold high on players Who overpaid Duke based on one flukey year in Milwaukee? Since when is Tilson anything but a 4th/5th outfielder? He missed badly on the Avi assessment, and having Frazier one more year doesn't help much unless they're all in...not to mention having Montas around might have lowered the desperation to foolishly add James Shields and get stuck with his contract. The only one from that list that was good is Eaton. And any positive from Eaton has been wiped out by all of the terrible to bad free agent deals over the last few years, along with the acquisition of James Shields. At best, you could argue that Melky and Robertson might get you a Tier C prospect back...and Frazier's value has slid a bit as well. Those are the three BEST moves! And then there's Abreu, who put up one great, one really good and one negative value season...and who shouldn't be out in the field another game, realistically. If they tried to sell all four of those players in the offseason, the return wouldn't come close to what the Yankees did in June and July with their veterans.

Difficulty getting on the same side/consensus in order to pull off a midseason trade in a timely manner....Hahn doesn't want to tear apart the team he constructed over the last couple of seasons because it will make him look incompetent, essentially.

http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/white-s...b-tim-anderson/ http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/robin-v...but-will-he-be/ Haugh...Ventura shouldn't return but you never know with Jerry

Shaw is the current weak/est spot for Boston. Bogaerts and Pedroia are set in the middle infield, Ramirez at 1b....and they will probably sign Encarnacion to replace Ortiz. So where else would Moncada, a born infielder, play in that lineup?

http://www.businessinsider.com/ruby-tuesda...-harambe-2016-8 Bud Fox/Charlie Sheen character name...pranks Ruby Tuesday's earnings call with question about Harambe's death impacting profits

Rooney Mara rules!

http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/ventura...as-to-be-asked/

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 14, 2016 -> 01:18 AM) Why not? These games are meaningless and we need Sale and Q for next season and we want to lose to get better draft pick. So why not? With Robertson, it wouldn't hurt to give him 7-10 days' rest and give Burdi or Jones some save chances, if that's legitimately the plan for next year. If you sit Q and Sale for that long, it would make it really difficult for either of them to pitch into September and any possible postseason in 2017, not to mention it would be totally unfair to the credibility of the playoff race to just go with AA/AAA ptching the remainder of this season.

Except he only owns like 15% of the team, personally. So that would be roughly $118 million or so (after tax)....not close to a billion.