caulfield12

You can look at it like some fans do, based largely on his $11 million price tag and injuries (hard to blame him for getting hit on the hand/fingers by a pitch)....sub 650 OPS for the regular season, but if he's the absolute weakest link offensively (and that's the case with Infante being replaced by Zobrist), it's not one of the biggest concerns in the world. Actually, Franklin Morales being their only LHR and probably the lowest on the totem pole right now in the bullpen is a much larger problem, comparatively. Or just the general lack of predictability with Cueto, Ventura, Duffy and Madson this post-season.

Paul O'Neill, by the way, came over from Cincy. Not home-grown.

QUOTE (Tex @ Nov 1, 2015 -> 11:02 AM) Or talking to a friend at her old school, ordering a pizza. We have no way of knowing. And it really should not matter. Generally speaking I have taught students who have been victims of every horrible thing you can think of. Having a close family member in prison was really no big deal. Basically raising themselves was the norm. Where are they going to learn about society and the expectations? These kids need structure and a familiar place that isn't as chaotic as their own lives. They need to know that adults care enough about them to see that they learn good habits that will get them through school and life. A wow, your life is really bad, do whatever you like and we'll hand you a diploma at the end does the child a huge disservice. They do not have good parents, in most cases they do not have any parents guiding them. What would good parents tell their child about following rules? Don't do it, defy the teachers and use your phone whenever you like no matter what is happening in class? That's your expectation for your kids? The key sentence here...care enough about them to see that they learn good habits...in order to do that, you actually need to care, literally, as well. It can't be fake or hypocritical care. It has to be consistent in all your actions toward the students. Sometimes it sounds like we are talking about prisoners and not students in the education field.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Nov 1, 2015 -> 08:41 AM) Who is saying the Sox pulled a bait and switch? I think you've competed misinterpreted my post. I was agreeing with you that this NL players can't hit in the AL argument is stupid and unfounded. Like I said in my previous post, the larger issue is assuming all players can handle DHing. Sure, just because Dunn & LaRoche agreed to DH and probably thought they could handle the role, doesn't mean it was going to work out for us. Our front office has to be smarter about giving big contracts to guys with no track record of DHing if that's going to be their primary role. Right now, we're 0 for 2 in those situations. Actually 2/4. Andruw Jones and Jim Thome from LAD and PHA.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Nov 1, 2015 -> 09:13 AM) The girl is new to this school because her mother recently died and she's now an orphan in foster care. Other students said she's quiet and keeps to herself. Terrific. She needs a social worker/counselor more than to be subjected to nationwide scrutiny. Quite likely she was talking to a family member about personal business that's probably more important at the moment than school-related stuff. Im guessing the teacher had no idea about all this.

QUOTE (High Mileage @ Nov 1, 2015 -> 09:01 AM) I like your style! I'd love to see the Sox give Cespedes a massive contract. The Royals have done well against him everywhere he's been. I'm afraid Rios has played well enough late in the season to cause the Royals to pick up his option. That would be dumb. They have Medlen's as well. Why not try to keep Zobrist, especially with no interest in Infante starting again and Gordon likely gone? Plus they have Dyson, Orlando...Mondesi could be moved out there if need be, and Bubba Starling is coming on too, amazingly enough. http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=2...lb&sid=milb He's in the Top 20 in the AFL in OPS. Of course, so is Adam Engel.

That second generation Indians team from 2003-2007 was pretty darned good. Were very close to a World Series in 2007 before falling to Boston. That 2005 team scared the hell out of us until the final week...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jia_Zhangke One of my new five favorite directors in the world... A Touch of Sin is absolutely must see (banned in China, Palm 'd Or selection at Cannes) if you want to understand everything going on here today, and Mountains May Depart (another nomination, debuted this weekend) is equally excellent until the final third which takes place mostly in English language and largely in Australia. The World, Still Life, Unknown Pleasures, Useless and Platform are among his other more famous works. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/jia_zhang_ke/

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Nov 1, 2015 -> 07:39 AM) How many NL position players have come to the sox in the last 5-6 years, Caulfield? Not an incredible amount. It just goes to show how the main fiascos such as Dunn, LaRoche and Shark have started to color perceptions...along with a line of NL players who have struggled recently in the transition, such as Sandoval and Ramirez in Boston this year. I remember a thread this July or August where it was hard to identify more than just a handful of success stories among all 30 teams in the last 2-3 seasons. If you want to count DeAza as a success in this area (based more on original expectations), that's another that could be cited.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Nov 1, 2015 -> 07:07 AM) It's just really lazy whining. And most of it is based on Adam Dunn & Adam LaRoche's struggles. If anything, the takeaway should be that not all players can handle DHing and we should require some experience when filling that spot. It's also based on Eaton being the only starting position player or pitcher to come over from the NL in about the last five or six years and not seriously regress. Quentin, although he was injured a lot and didn't have much of a track record at the MLB level, going back seven years. So pretty much any non AZ Dback.

QUOTE (Tex @ Nov 1, 2015 -> 06:54 AM) MY assumption is this has played out several/many times before. I've never seen or heard this happening after only one instance with a student. I meant in terms of his not having the ability to get the student away based on a repoire he'd been able to develop with that student. Maybe she was really a antagonistic or difficult. But I'm sure you also rarely call security except for something bordering on a fight or dangerous situation inside or just outside the classroom in the hallway...or perhaps two girls with long hair and nails fighting, where it's nearly impossible to separate them. Hey used pepper spray quite often in my school, especially in hallway skirmishes that bordered on going out of control.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Nov 1, 2015 -> 02:28 AM) At the July 31st trade deadline the Mets were 53-50. They acquired Cespedes, Uribe, Kelly Johnson and Tyler Clippard . Uribe and Johnson were pretty much non factors but Cespedes did so well he was mentioned as a possible MVP candidate . They finished the season 90-72. To be fair a few other Mets also had good 2nd halves of the season and David Wright returning was a major plus. But that just goes to show what I said in my initial post about how things snowball once a team starts to believe in itself. D'Arnaud also came back from injury in the second half and had the besp ops of any NL catcher. Plawecki was replaced. Their 3b while Wright was out, Campbell, was terrible. Lagares was another version of Billy Hamilton, but guys like Granderson, Conforto (who started the year at Port St. Lucie in the FSL) and Duda all came on as well.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Nov 1, 2015 -> 01:02 AM) Thanks for remembering my post. For those who think I'm a troll and never make pertinent comments, see my previous Rios comment. You also recognized I was correct about Rios' ineptitude, his continued ineptitude. Good post. I thought the same about the reverse of Buckner when the ball went under his glove the same way it did with Buckner. The one I thought of was Graffanino for Boston before Iguchi homered against Wells...

QUOTE (Ballz-n-Strikes @ Oct 31, 2015 -> 11:29 PM) 3 years ago...I'd have loved him. After ALL the NL signing FAIL.. I don't want a single thing from the NL. Nothing. I'm with kite on this. (And that includes Heyward). Puig is the only one that is interesting to me.... I think Hahn could get Puig AND Cespedes if he's smart. If we would had the right manager/coaching to deal with them, sure! Depends on who we hire for bench coach. An empty seat at this rate. That particular combination requires dumping LaRoche and trading Quintana...so the resulting rotation would be Sale, Rodon, Danks, Erik Johnson and Turner/Montas. Playoff worthy? Getting another starting pitcher back with Puig for Q will also cost some key prospects.

QUOTE (Flash Tizzle @ Oct 31, 2015 -> 11:16 PM) I'm not advocating that we should throw out maximum dollars to entice top tier FA's. It was more a sarcastic comment about the unlikelihood of us being in a World Series, dethrowning KC, with our special blend of "low tisk high reward" signings or 1-2yr stop gap options. What's sad though is they're actually trying to succeed.....which makes seasons such as 2015 all the more pathetic. And KC winning a World Series makes our likely path of second/third tier options all the more pathetic when it'll only marginally improve our team. Maybe with the new WC format we can hope to improve 10 games and atleast be in the hunt, but as you mentioned Minnesota and Twins are better positioned to compete moving forward. Hahn has a LOT of work to do. It'll definitely be exciting around these parts. Hopefully Hahn turns in a magical offseason where we get a franchise changing trade, key FA signings and a bit if luck. We sure as hell need it Im less convinced Buxton will be a superstar (more like Cameron Maybin) but Sano is a monster. If they get some more starting pitching and Mauer awakens from his coma, they'll be a force. The Indians have the pitching and Lindor, Kipnis, Brantley, Santana and Gomes. That's a MUCH nicer core compared to Abreu and Eaton.

QUOTE (Tex @ Oct 31, 2015 -> 09:38 AM) I haven't seen anything that talks about what all the teacher had done previously. Where did you find that? I'd like to know how many previous problems the teacher had with this student and her cell phone. My assumption. Having spent four years in exactly the same situation you're describing, you definitely have to pick your battles.

Short porch in RF. Hello, Yankee Stadium. They would really love him there, he has the competitiveness and drive of Paul O'Neill but not hateworthy.

Fwiw, Yost let Cueto pitch a CG in Game Two and that was also questioned universally and it was his second postseason game giving up two or less runs (with the Oreo white cream filling of disaster in between.) Edit: two or fewer HITS

QUOTE (Swingandalongonetoleft @ Oct 31, 2015 -> 10:46 PM) Didn't catch a replay, but the runner crossing in front of Murphy right before the ball got to him had to have played a role in how that play unfolded. I hate when managers throw their closer for anything other than getting 3 outs in the 9th. While the runners put on by Clippard contributed to a precarious situation that probably had the defense on edge more than they usually would be, I wish he would have either kept him in, or gone to someone other than the closer. Ideally, keeping Matz and the relievers that followed him prior to Clippard would have stayed in a littler longer. You've just identified the Achillies' heel of both the Astros and the Mets. Middle relief. Even with Colon and Niese. Robles could have been extended, arguably. He has really good stuff.

QUOTE (Ballz-n-Strikes @ Oct 31, 2015 -> 10:47 PM) No. Bulls***. Mets are stacked with pitchers. There is NOTHING in your posts that show an ounce of support for him being "injured". You don't trust the NY Times or Josh Lewin I guess?

QUOTE (Ballz-n-Strikes @ Oct 31, 2015 -> 10:26 PM) Why make it hard to like you.... Do you realize you do that? Brant Brown hates me as well.

QUOTE (Ballz-n-Strikes @ Oct 31, 2015 -> 10:35 PM) What are you talking about? Matz doesn't have injury problems. I live in NY metro and I have friends who know his family. That kid can take ALL comers. Pulling him before 70 pitches is...STUPID. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/03/sports/b...in-lingers.html http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/gamelog/_/id/33106/steven-matz Look at July 5th on. The max he has ever gone is six. 36 2/3 ip over 7 starts. Then you're not taking into consideration the back issue. And how many starts he missed. And how he was overthrowing because of too much adrenaline and hit a wall.

QUOTE (Flash Tizzle @ Oct 31, 2015 -> 10:28 PM) Oh come on. It changes nothing, really? So we're just going to go about assembling our team with second third tier FA and cast away FA's to compete against a DIVISIONAL opponent, twice in the World Series and likely to win it this season, even after Williams has acknowledged we're in our three year window? Point A to Point B changes when the Royals have more revenue from a World Series run to retain, sign, extend vital playera for their success. Cespedes OR Frazier (not both) is exactly what we've become conditioned to expect. Doing something to make a big splash, or not doing enough due diligence to determine if the player's even going to be a good fit or whether this particular coaching staff can extract the maximum performance from him... The odds are ten times better if you allocated Cespedes' $100 million across 4-6 players like KW did entering 2005...but Hahn has shown no ability to identify the right second and third tier players. Abreu is the only outlier. Signing Tanaka or Shark would have been disasters.

QUOTE (Ballz-n-Strikes @ Oct 31, 2015 -> 10:08 PM) Whatever.... Matz left in, Murphy's play doesn't happen. That's my point. Managers are being ridiculous...pulling starters after 1 or 2 ER.... 5th inning!!!!!!!!! LOL. Clownshoes. Makes me miss Ozzie. He had faith in his pitchers (and D) to go deep. Throughout all these playoffs - I've not seen one manager trust their SPs. Not one. No wonder Ozzie won a WS...he had...what....4 of them throw CGs in '05 along the way? Sure, their top three guys are horses. The problem is that Matz missed a huge chunk of the season (especially second half), back problems, conditioning issues, etc. Then he was throwing ever harder than normal because he was all amped up. You could see he was hitting a wall. Imo the problem was Niese or Colon weren't the greatest options there, either. Niese is just ordinary against lefties, not superhuman. Matz has the better stuff even if you consider all the factors already outlined. And bullpens are so specialized now difficult to compare with a decade ago.

QUOTE (Ballz-n-Strikes @ Oct 31, 2015 -> 10:09 PM) Bingo! Shut up. Leon Bull Durham is the retort to that...