caulfield12

The White Sox have one strength in their pitching. They will have Shoeless Joe Jackson/Comiskey Family Peace Day before they'll shell out double Abreu's contract for a pitcher who will likely decline in his 30s from all the wear and tear. Not to mention Greinke only had one really great season in the AL, he was very good but not great for most of his Royals career so I would be incredibly hesitant.

Except it's kind of pointless to budget for something which has less than a 2% chance of happening. It's like expecting them to spend the money they were prepared to give Tanaka two offseasons ago.

Technically, we have $9.8 million freed up to sign a replacement....but there are other players getting increases as well so it probably amounts to $6-9 million per player to sign two new guys. Also depends if they're going to replace Alexei, but that's doubtful knowing the White Sox typical sentimental attachment to certain players.

But the Cubs weren’t built as a defense-first team and the franchise spent so much of its capital – first-round picks, trade chips, international money – on position players. So it shouldn’t be a huge surprise when a young team that’s won 101 games since Opening Day looks lost at times in the field and desperate to find some arms. The shock is that the Cubs got to this point in 2015. A game that started with Javier Baez making an error at shortstop ended when Jorge Soler struck out looking at a Familia slider. The go-ahead run scored on – what else? – Trevor Cahill’s strikeout/wild pitch in the sixth inning. Cespedes had gotten to third by stealing the base against a Cubs team that’s had issues with controlling the running game all year. Kyle Schwarber is a terrific hitter playing left field, and the ball found him on a Cespedes line drive in the two-run seventh inning. http://www.csnchicago.com/cubs/outplayed-m...s-comeback-nlcs Already the excuses. 1) Curse of Murphy 2) Cold weather in NYC 3) Addison Russell's injury 4) Cubs are too young and inexperienced, not built for playoffs 5) Surprise, surprise...a talented roster deep in positional talent is a bit short in pitching 6) Too many "offense first" players like Schwarber, Bryant, Castro and Baez 7) Arrieta got tired from overuse/exceeding innings highs from previous years significantly 8) Lester isn't the same ace he was 2-3 seasons ago with the Red Sox

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Oct 21, 2015 -> 12:03 AM) Greg's world, Greg's world, ticket time, excellent! Greg and Jimmy from Seinfeld need to form a 3rd person dynamic duo. Perhaps they could take on the 3rd person heavy weight champs in Elmo and The Rock. Can you smellelelelel what the stop sign is cooking? Oh, my bad, its the crack. Carry on... And then they could run advertisements from THE WIZ...topped off by a food segment where Greg gets upbraided by the local Applebee's in Lawrence by the same sous chef (Soup Nazi) who says "NO SOUP FOR YOU!" and can then plead his case online about why he actually should have been served the soup but was unfairly denied his rightful cup. Still trying to figure out how I can incorporate Ozzie Guillen and the members of the 2005 Chicago White Sox into the show...why they would have a reason to come to Lawrence that doesn't have anything to do with KU basketball? Maybe they're doing a 10 year anniversary "Hallmark World Series Champs Card" to benefit White Sox Charities and they have to do the camera shoot/production there at the HQ facility...I know, it's a stretch.

Haha.... Cueto claims the Jays were stealing signs now. First, it was his catcher (Perez) that was holding the glove/target too high for him, which he didn't bring up until about 9-10 starts into his Royals' tenure. Seems he is full of excuses and hasn't taken any blame or responsibility himself. Maybe he's just in denial that he's cost himself $25-50 million in total contract value in basically just two months of baseball in the AL. Zimmermann should be target #1 for any team, assuming they can't afford Greinke and Price. Right now, you'd have to put Shark behind those four, Iwakuma, Latos, Fister....probably around #8. Some other teams will prefer to give less money and years to a Mike Leake, Brandon Beachy, Mark Guthrie, Colon, Happ, Haren (if he doesn't retire again), Aaron Harang, etc.

First time that has happened in MLB history. Loup was attending to a family matter, and Gibbons had to hold back Sanchez and Osuna for potential games 5-7. Hendriks was absolutely maxed out at 4 1/3 IP. "I think you saw it last year,'' Young said. "There's a comfort level these guys have, where they know this is something special. I don't know how to explain it, but it really is tremendous. They come to play every day, yet they're still relaxed. There's no nerves. "Maybe it's because they trust each other. They know that if they don't get the job done, the guy behind them will. It's not just about the baseball talent. It's about the character of the individuals. I've never seen anything like it with a baseball team.'' http://espn.go.com/mlb/playoffs2015/story/...etter-blue-jays

Michael Baron@michaelgbaron My early AM story about the #Cubs weaknesses. Once again a problem for them tonight https://t.co/UJr2SDk6SV via @Justmets #Mets

David Wright up to .364 now...

Wood vs. Granderson had K written all over it...

#MetsTwitter now petitioning MLB to take hedge clippers to the ivy. What is the world coming to...? I think the Astros are finally getting rid of Tal's Hill, too...so we need a flagpole in CF with Lester Hayes' stick-em on it (like in old Tiger Stadium at 440 feet), and the base of the pole needs to be about a foot wide.

Chicago Cubs@Cubs Thank you all for your groundskeeping advice. Idiots.

Well, if the Cubs come back and win, that section of the ivy will also have to be encased in glass and memorialized as well to go along with Schwarber's HR ball resting on top of the scoreboard. The best sitcom writers couldn't come up with this stuff...that's why baseball is so cool. The Ivy saves the Cubs. My goodness. Conforto would have scored on his hands and knees with a billy goat strapped to his back.

That's pretty much the only way the White Sox would score in that situation over the last three seasons.

Holy Cow!

Damn. Still one more chance. Conforto.

Only 36 fastballs out of 82 pitches for deGrom tonight (43.9%) -- his lowest fastball usage in any game in his two-year career. #NLCSGame3 Duda tried to get a bunt down. He did, Cespedes gets to 2nd. That's a sac. He is 3-for-his-last-33 at the plate.

QUOTE (Mike F. @ Oct 20, 2015 -> 07:44 PM) Who? It's a joke about former Sox Juan Uribe, who would often swing out of his ass for the longball. That said, he was simply great at adjusting with a runner on 3rd and less than 2 outs.

1-2-3 inning. Mets need to score here and take the advantage into a possible rain delay...AND get their bullpen ready to go.

Marc Carig@MarcCarig @MarcCarig @AdamRubinESPN @jareddiamond @SteveGelbs rains a coming #LGM 40 miles out 30-45 mins https://t.co/CX7peYwKsA Third time through now against deGrom. He’s at 75 pitches. 50-50 raffle up to $33,537, btw.

DP? Well, you just knew it wasn't go to be THAT easy to just expect an XB hit there. For those who've asked, considering rain possibly on way: Postseason games can no longer be rain-shortened. Eventually played to completion. Funny to see national media applauding Castro's defense and turn at 2B. Neighborhood play?

Shouldn't there be a former Sox pitching for the Cubs in the post-season jinx as well? deGrom allowed just 2 HR this season on fastballs located on the outer third of the plate or off the plate away. He's allowed 2 tonight... Trevor Cahill warming up now. If Wright gets going....look out.

In all seriousness, the Cubs can't just get swept. That wouldn't be as interesting or painful as losing it all in the 6th or 7th game of the series. Doesn't fit into the whole Cub Folklore storyline...that's why 2007/08 losses aren't mentioned as much, compared to 1945, 1969, Brant Brown, Bartman/2003 and Leon Durham/1984.

You get two challenges before the 7th inning in the playoffs, so it doesn't hurt to try (the Blue Jays did this early on a play at home where it looked almost impossible to call Cain out earlier). Then Rios was called safe on a steal attempt when he popped up from a slide and took his foot off the bag...challenged and overturned. Opposition hitting .325 third time through the order so that might be it for Hendricks...at best, one more inning to get through the fifth but if another Met reaches he's probably toast (assuming the Cubs don't score 3-5 runs here). I'm pretty sure a White Sox fan, even with the Butterfly Effect in play, can't jinx the Cubs any more than they are already "jinxed" from 15,000 km away, haha. Besides, didn't Greg already jinx them by picking them to get to the World Series? Or did he already change his mind?

Poor Cubs' fans. The curse of Murphy strikes again...it's almost too good to be true that the cursed Billy Goat shares the same name. If they're going to "waste" (since his best year remaining will likely be in a non-contending year) money on a utility player, it better be Zobrist. However, he'll have a ton of interesting offers in terms of dollars and years and definitely pick a playoff-caliber team for 2016. Wouldn't be shocking to see him re-up with the Royals, he seems quite comfortable assuming the veteran "been there, done that" team spokesman role. Makes him an interesting interview because he has a perspective on the team from both the inside and the outside. The Cubs don't have a huge need for Ben unless they are finally willing to start parting ways with Soler, Baez, Castro, etc. Plus, you don't want Zobrist playing CF and surrounded by two offense-first corner guys.