caulfield12

Oh, and I can understand why STEVE JOBS bombed in the theatres now. Fassbender is a great actor, but he didn't look close enough to Jobs to make me forget I was watching the actor Fassbender trying to channel Jobs. (Ashton Kutcher in appearance was much closer). Second, and most importantly, the screenplay's (Sorkin) well-written, but the dark/moody/paranoid side of Jobs isn't much fun to watch on screen. It's almost like torture, this feeling you're watching someone's dirty laundry and maybe we're better off not knowing about all those elements of his personal life. Of course, the myth is always better than the reality...we knew Jobs was a jerk and egomaniac and impossible to work with, etc., but watching the film and suffering his character is a bit much.

JOY (Jennifer Lawrence, about the invention of Miracle Mop/Swiffer products for QVC/HSN) was a lot like a much better version of a similar concept, the Greg Kinnear one (which flew completely under the radar) about the invention of the intermittent wiper blade and his ongoing fight with the Big 3 automakers in DET. Not surprised most of the reviews have it in the 50's, like Concussion. Both movies are about interesting stories, but the "dramatized story within a real story" is simply lacking. Jennifer Lawrence, as always, is eminently watchable...just like Will Smith, but both of these movies are better off watched on your own time and don't require a theatre viewing. SISTERS, the Tina Fey/Poehler movie, is probably a better family option to Star Wars sellouts over the holidays.

Because the mods asked for it, haha. As expected, this post will be long...so no point in reading and/or complaining afterwards. 1) Spread out your pool of money over a group of free agents and trade targets, but concentrate as much as possible on "value"/players coming off injuries or with bad reps. More often that means tier 3 guys, instead of overpaying for Tier 2. When you DO go after a Tier 2 (Edinson Volquez or Shark), get it right. The White Sox turned Ordonez, Lee and Valentin's money into Hermanson, Vizcaino, Iguchi, Dye, Pods, AJ, Hernandez and Dye. The worst of those deals was for El Duque, and they ended up getting those three miraculous outs against BOS with the bases loaded to redeem that move. The Royals did essentially the same thing (and similar to the Red Sox model for winning the World Series more recently). They were able to bring in Chris Young, Medlen (more for this season as a starter), Volquez, Blanton, Rios, Madson and, most importantly, Kendrys Morales, for less than the White Sox spent on all their acquisitions. 2) When you make big moves to go for it, utilize the depth of your minor league system to acquire those players (Freddy Garcia in 2004 or Zobrist/Cueto). The Royals didn't pay any of the salary for both of those guys, but they sacrificed a lot of their minor league depth to do so (a big criticism of the KW/JR regime). 3) Stay away from long-term contracts (anything more than 3 years) or overspending...even on your own players (see Alex Gordon or Pujols/StL). 4) Related to #1, unearth even more "under the radar types" who can contribute (low risk/medium reward), nobody noticed the Royals signing the likes of Young, Medlen or Blanton last year, or the addition of Dillon Gee and John Lannan already this offseason for rotation depth/insurance. Likewise, the White Sox made tons of moves like that from 2003-05 that went virtually unnoticed nationally (Cliff Politte, Esteban Loaiza or Geoff Blum). Essentially, right now is where the paths depart and where KW went wrong after 2005, changing the team composition too dramatically. Here is what the Royals will do, IMO. 1) They essentially have a five year window of "good will" from the community that has been earned through two consecutive World Series appearances. That will generate additional revenue streams, but the major problem is that their media rights deal isn't up for renewal until 2019. That essentially means that they're getting paid $20 million for a product arguably worth $50-70 million and one that would probably fetch in the vicinity of $110-130 million on the open bidding market. 2) Because of that fact, they simply can't afford to sign any players with contracts beyond 2018, with 2016-17 being the ideal window (and that's where someone like a CarGo makes sense, if the numbers work). Gordon will get four if not five years, so it makes no sense to pay for a player on his decline for 2-3 seasons when you've already lost the core of your foundation (Cain/Moustakas/Hosmer after 2017). 3) On the other hand, they have the luxury of biding their time and sitting back and waiting for their division rivals to set the target or benchmark. They're waiting to see if the White Sox or Tigers end up with one of Davis, Upton, Gordon or Cespedes, whether the Indians upgrade their offense further with a trade of a young starter and what the heck the Twins are up to. With all the accrued "good will," they're not forced into making a desperate financial move...so they can wait, and wait, and wait some more. 4) The hope/underlying belief is that a slew of interesting players will become available once all the big guns have been fired off...allowing them to swoop in and sign the likes of Span, Parra or Austin Jackson for bargain or value prices. Trading second-tier prospects for Desmond Jennings is another option. Because of the depth in the FA starting pitching class, they can also possibly sign a 2nd/3rd tier pitching option to fill out the rotation and provide depth (same issue the White Sox have at the moment). 5) Which would allow them to push Duffy into the bullpen and/or make him trade material if they can market him, Herrera or Hochevar to a team desperate to overpay for bullpen help (see HOU/Boston this off-season) and ironically enough hoping to copy the KC "bullpen dominance" blueprint. This is where we get back to the old KW way of doing things. Everything that comes after patience. 6) The idea that someone like an Ian Desmond or Dexter Fowler will fall into their grasp because they go unsigned into the regular season (like Morales/S.Drew two years ago). Desmond could used at their three weakest offensive positions, 2B, LF or RF (many believe he will be converted to a Zobrist-like superutility role because of his athletic ability). Players like Desmond or Fowler are more likely to want to sign "rebuild value" one year contracts or perhaps one year with an option contracts, which fits perfectly into the KC time frame. 7) The tried and true KW plan, reload at the trade deadline, adjust on the fly...with their additional revenue flows and guaranteed attendance the next two seasons, they have a lot more flexibility than other teams in the division to either add talent by trading minor league prospects or taking on salary (like the White Sox did in 2012 with Youkilis, Myers and Liriano). The Royals have the luxury of being able to sit back and bide their time, not unlike the way DET went about things in 2012...waiting to run down the front-runners in the 2nd half of the season. Teams like DET, the White Sox and Indians will be much more desperate to get off to quick starts IMO.

QUOTE (blackmooncreeping @ Dec 23, 2015 -> 12:36 PM) So do nothing further for 2016/2017? 2018 is light years away After 2018 is over...the 2017-18 class is better than next year but still not as promising as this year's overall.

QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Dec 23, 2015 -> 09:11 AM) What? Your numbers make no sense. It appears as if you completely left out Clinton's presidency. Since Nixon took office (not real sure why chose that as a starting point) basically 47 years ago it's been 28 years Republican, 19 Democrat. With the difference being that you chose a Republican as your starting point. If you went back to Kennedy/Eisenhower the numbers are 28 Republican, 27 Democrat. Since the end of WWII, which was basically the beginning of the USA as a Super Power, the presidency has alternated between Democrats and Republicans other than the 12 years of Reagan, HW Bush which I think is an indication of the general population being uninformed. They don't like the way things are going so next election cycle they vote opposite. Then 2, 4 or 6 years later things still aren't going great so they vote opposite again. Obviously it was included... 20/24 and then Clinton and Bush gives you 28/40 before Obama. I just didn't explicitly state Bill Clinton's name there. You can cancel out JFK/LBJ with Ike. Or include FDR to skew it back towards the Dems. That would be 20/28 + 8/8 for 28/36 years from 1932-1968.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Dec 23, 2015 -> 08:58 AM) You aren't very good at math. Nixon/Ford - 8 years Carter - 4 years Reagan - 8 years Bush - 4 years Clinton - 8 years Bush - 8 years Obama - 8 years That's 20 total years of Democrats And 28 years of Republicans My math was fine, and those stretches are exactly correct. The only difference was leaving off Obama...but adding those eight years still doesn't balance it over the last 56. It would take eight more years of Clinton.

Except Atlanta had no desire for Tomas at all...they're talking about moving Hector Olivera, their own Cuban acquired from LA, to LF.

Counting from Nixon, eight years....Carter, then 12 of Reagan/Bush. 20/24 Then after G. W. Bush, 28/40. Dominance!

Except they have a two year window on everyone but Morales...

QUOTE (SouthSideSale @ Dec 23, 2015 -> 08:27 AM) The royals have to play poor. They have guys coming up. Hosmer, Moustakas, Perez, Cain, etc. If they don't sign at least two of those three (completely unlikely), there's no point to also extend Perez's team friendly deal. With that type of frame, his body will have worn down so much that a long-term extension would be more of a sentimental business decision than a sound economic one.

QUOTE (WhiteSoxLifer @ Dec 23, 2015 -> 06:31 AM) http://www.southsidesox.com/2015/12/23/106...whatever-degree The Royals could be playing poor with Gordon, waiting until somebody honestly forces their hand. Maybe it benefits the White Sox to make a show of doing due diligence on Gordon to make sure that the Royals can't get him as a "crawling back" price, especially if they're still a smaller-market operation despite the immense success with attendance and TV ratings. Maybe the Royals have no interest in committing to Gordon's decline, but Gordon's camp is content to use the Royals as a fallback in order to set a higher floor for himself. And if the Royals don't want Gordon back even at a depressed price, should the White Sox want him that badly in the first place? The key point in the previous paragraph isn't "if they're still a smaller market," it should be SINCE they are... Their current media rights deal is for just $20 million, the lowest in the majors. The best guess is that they're underpaid by roughly $40 million based on the last two seasons and that they would get $120 million in a new package were it to commence this year. Of course, that's not the case, fortunately for the AL Central. Their media deal comes up for renewal the same time as the Cubs and White Sox, 2019. Most of the remaining core of the team will be gone after 2017 and their media rights deal will fall back to the $60-80 million range in all likelihood as the team goes into a rebuilding phase. This difference of $100 million is THE reason Gordon won't be signing with KC. Bet your house on it. You can also bet the White Sox (and Cubs contributing to the White Sox 40% because of skyrocketing ad rates) would generate at least $40-60 million in additional yearly profits on their CSN Chicago deal with the added presence of another star on the Southside and two contending teams at the same time.

http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/mlb/...tomas/77761210/ Interesting take from DBacks' side on the loss of Inciarte and the pressure now on Y.Tomas to produce like he's being paid This season, Inciarte was a pesky, effective leadoff hitter and a dominant defender. Tomas was a light-hitting, low-on-base, high swing-and-miss guy who was a liability defensively. Inciarte also provided value on the bases. All that was evident both in basic stats and in the eye test. Advanced metrics help provide context of just how big a difference there was between the two. Not much heavy lifting is required offensively: Inciarte’s OPS was 40 points higher, and FanGraphs rated his baserunning at 3.0 runs above average; Tomas came in at -0.7. The defensive difference was even more dramatic. Inciarte was one of the better corner outfielders in all of baseball. His 29 defensive runs saved (DRS) were, according to FanGraphs, the second highest among all major league outfielders. Tomas registered -8 DRS, doing so in only 494 2/3 innings. Extrapolate that out to a full season in the outfield and he would have ranked among the two or three worst outfielders in the majors. Add it all up and you get a player’s wins above replacement. Inciarte was a 3.3-win player, per FanGraphs, while Tomas was worth -1.3 wins.

The reviews for that one are pretty fair to middling... I saw low 40's at either RT or metacritic. Ron Howard's had bad run of luck recently with box office profits, Rush was a really good movie but something must have gone wrong with the marketing or timing of that film two years ago.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 22, 2015 -> 09:30 PM) IN all seriousness, instead of the movie, go to PBS.org and watch their special on NFL concussions. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/league-of-denial/ I'm assuming you haven't seen Concussion yet. It's tracking around the 50's on metacritic. I'll agree that NPR or PBS type productions should have more impact than they often do. On the other hand, there's no reason why someone can't enjoy the documentary INSIDE JOB about the global financial/mortgage crisis and get something equally worthwhile out of THE BIG SHORT. I will agree with two of the harsher critics who believe the main character's POV wasn't the best possible way to present the story...that the attempts to dramatize the peaks and valleys of the doctor's career took away from the subject matter as Hollywood tried to shoehorn an equally compelling human interest side into the story. VarietyAndrew Barker Effective enough as a cautionary tale about willful ignorance and as a showcase for Will Smith...the film is let down by its confused and cliche-riddled screenplay, which struggles mightily to take a complex story and finesse it to fit story beats it was never meant to hit. Consequence of SoundJustin Gerber Concussion tries to “tell the truth!” but its filmmaker feels compelled to surround the truth with tales of a man whose life is just not that interesting.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Dec 22, 2015 -> 08:46 PM) It's amazing that in a thread about a Royals free agent where you are encouraged to talk about that specific free agent, you manage to not talk about that free agent and instead talk about other players the Royals are targeting. And John Smoltz Do you really want a separate thread on John Smoltz replacing Harold Reynolds with FOX? The main reason I included that was because Trayce Thompson is one of the targets...once again, do we want a separate thread about that topic alone (interest in a former White Sox player by another team seemingly being of interest to MOST SoxTalk posters)? Should I start a separate Jackie Bradley, Jr. thread? Trayce Thompson Trayce also big time bloodlines as the son of former NBA player Mychal Thompson and the brother of Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson. Thompson made his Major League debut in 2015, appearing in 44 games with the White Sox before being dealt to the Dodgers this winter in the three-team Todd Frazier deal. Thompson was a second-round pick by the White Sox and has shown a nice blend of power and speed, with 20/20 potential as a centerfielder. However he has also shown little plate discipline, striking out 26% of the time with a 6.6% walk rate. He hit well once he was promoted to Chicago this year, hitting .295/.363/.533 in 133 plate appearances with five home runs. His walk rate surged with the White Sox to 9.6% while he cut down on his strikeouts, although there are small sample size issues. Thompson is 24 years old, so his ceiling is not high, but he has power and speed, which the Royals will love, and his right-handed bat could fit in the lineup well.

Recent news/rumors John Smoltz is replacing Harold Reynolds on FOX National Broadcasts... Jackie Bradley, Jr., might be in play KC potentially targeting Trayce Thompson, Van Slyke, Kiki Hernandez and Alex Guerrero from LAD for relief help (Herrera, Hochevar, etc.)...as well as CarGo http://www.royalsreview.com/2015/12/16/103...ing-alex-gordon Most recent article on the Royals' negotiations or lack thereof with Gordon

Btw, I thought Morse as Mike Webster was excellent in a cameo role and virtually unrecognizable. The guy who played Duerson seemed to be way off in terms of appearance or personality...or maybe my perception of him growing up with the Bears as THE team in the Midwest in the 1980's was just quite different than how he was later in life. And nice to see an appearance by Daenarys' favorite confidante/advisor...she played Will Smith's wife and did an admirable job. Albert Brooks was also very good and more understated than usual. Alec Baldwin was good, too. The last time I remember him playing a doctor was MALICE ("I am God").

Waiting for Balta response...how likely it is for the White Sox to go through another season with nearly 100% health? Especially with Abreu's size and playing the field more often than DHing, Lawrie and Eaton's style of play, Avila's recent history...etc. Then you have players in their 30's like Frazier, Cabrera, LaRoche, etc. Nevertheless, in general, keeping players healthy and identifying/developing pitching talent, those are obviously are two key "niche" advantages over the rest of the league.

Yeah, there's still Puig (although all the talk is centered on Ethier, Crawford and Van Slyke to a lesser extent) but the belief the Dodgers were going to basically dump him is gradually fading, Marcell Ozuna, Inciarte, CarGo/Dickerson/Blackmon, Jay Bruce, Jorge Soler, Brett Gardner, Desmond Jennings (rehabbing/buy low candidate)... That said, we don't have the talent at the minor league level unless we're at a minimum willing to part with Adams, and the ask for a lot of the others would be Anderson, Fulmer or some combination of the 3. Ozuna was a 4.5 WAR guy just two years ago, Loria wants to get rid of him..but the White Sox don't have the pieces to acquire him still remaining in their system.

The net changes defensively have us a liitle bit ahead of last year's team. Frazier a clear upgrade, Lawrie a downgrade compared to Sanchez, Avila and Navarro could be better than Flowers (especially throwing out runners, if you look at Tyler's entire Sox career) but not especially counting on it based on health concerns. Then you just don't know about the chemistry of Lawrie and Saladino as a dp combo and how much Eaton can revert to 2014 form defensively. From that perspective...continuing to improve the defense as an aggregate and having a role model/mentor/coach on the field, Gordon does make a lot of sense. Cespedes' arm and athleticism lead to the highlight reels both positively and negatively when on defense, but he can be a negative influence as well from everything you read. That has never been a Gordon fault/flaw, and has his share of warts, too.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Dec 22, 2015 -> 04:33 PM) Ok...so go make a post that says..quit following the Sox because all of their past moves suck and move on. None of this has to do with the topic at hand. This is my last and final warning...enough of this nonsense. If you want to post in this thread, post about Gordon...if you want to post about all the other moves the sox could have done and how their past destines them for failure than create another thread or just give up cause what joy is their in even following a team if you truly think they never have any chance of ever succeeding based upon the past. 2005 happened, obviously. Greatest season for every Sox fan, and a complete shock from start to finish. That doesn't mean that we haven't been on the wrong side of these transactions where the balance of power shifts in the division where one wrong move has cost the White Sox a playoff spot. It's human nature to regret what could have been, whether it's the lost strike year or Carlos Quentin losing his temper in 2008. Some are better about having short memories than others. Players certainly can't think in those terms or they always will fail since success in the sport is defined by lack of success 70% of the time. If there wasn't that long history of disappointment like Sox fans have constantly faced, seasons like 2000 and 2008 would be afterthoughts for the typical bandwagon Yankees, Red Sox or Cardinals fan. They are highlights for us. Even though there was a feeling the 2008 team was going nowhere against TB on the road, the last month (especially winning three games in a row and finally, just once, conquering the Twins) or the last team at Old Comiskey that missed the playoffs gave me nearly an equal amount of joy as a fan. For that matter, it's also the reason Cubs' fans don't give up, either. The end. Back to Alex Gordon.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 22, 2015 -> 04:24 PM) Just think, if the Roylas didn't give Alex Rios $12.5 million to stink up the joint, they could throw that money at Gordon. I love hindsight. Clearly all of their other offseason and trade deadline moves backfired in an equally spectacular fashion. Clearly having the minor league system to add both Cueto and Zobrist without paying either anything saved a lot more money than Alex Rios cost them last year. Actually, the likes of Guthrie, Vargas and Infante cost them even more.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 22, 2015 -> 04:20 PM) Victor Martinez didn't play in 2012, Dunn hit 41 homers. So your argument is that with Victor Martinez instead of Dunn from 2011-2014 we never would have made the playoffs? The only reason we were so close in 2012 was probably related to that injury weakening Detroit relatively.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 22, 2015 -> 04:15 PM) Caulfield in full meltdown. His biggest nightmare, Royal hero a possible White Sox, and now he is back to the White Sox should have been in the playoffs this many times in the past. It is happening. Hahn making moves and the chronic whiners are melting. Lol. You have the opposite idea. Every time Gordon makes a mistake for the White Sox, that will be your chance to jump all over him. Gordon Beckham was so bad for us there was little need to rub it in, but I'm sure you won't be able to resist. I'm also happy to know that we never even considered Victor Martinez over Adam Dunn.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 22, 2015 -> 04:06 PM) Why give a response to guy who thinks Victor Matinez over Adam Dunn would have made up 16 games in the standings. Yes, because clearly we lost the 2012 race by not 3 but 16 games. When you sign a free agent, it has an impact over more than one year. In fact, you wanted to being back Victor Martinez instead of LaRoche just two years ago. Obviously you were impressed by something about him.