caulfield12

I believe more fans are surprised at what happened to this year's team during this current skid (6-15) than they were the "collapse/choke" of 4-11 the final 15 games of September, 2012. All along, the fans expected that the Tigers were the team with the superior talent, and the White Sox were relying upon so many rookie pitchers who'd never been in a playoff hunt...not to mention the signs the defense was already regressing after the first 4 1/2 months or so of fine play and the "breath of fresh air" from Ozzie being gone from the clubhouse. There was nothing during that "things slipping away" streak in 2012 that was quite reminiscent of the Rangers' 13-11 loss and especially three consecutive heart-breaking losses to KC, not to mention the fact that that Tigers' team was MUCH better in terms of talent than anyone we're fighting with right now. Of course, there wasn't anything similar to the "heartening" effect of Matt Albers' trip around the bases, either.

Don't be too sure Jackson's ready...of course, you know that him and Avila would give anything to play in these games to prove the Tiggers wrong about letting both of them go. Shuck, Sands, Avi and Eaton. YAY!

23-10 then 6-15

J4L already rolling out the "LeBron has/had no chance because of Golden State's depth" line. Well, maybe that will be the spin from his camp, but will history tell this time period as the torch passing from LeBron to a new generation of "drive, dish or shoot" assassins whose accuracy and teamwork/passing from the outside is going to force the 3 point line to be moved back again in order to balance things out once more (increased focus on defense, traditional block and rebound centers, more driving to the basket and drawing fouls, less European)...???

While Upton, Gordon, Chris Davis and Heyward have been huge disappointments (and would have been various degrees of crippling for the White Sox). Only Cespedes has lived up to his billing, although $27.5 million or whatever still is a steep price to pay even for that level of production. Probably to the Mets it's worth it if it gets them back the NL Championship Series at least.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Jun 3, 2016 -> 06:33 AM) It wouldn't be that crazy. It's happened before. And sometimes guys skip Triple A and go straight from Double A to the majors. Yes, I know. Scott Radinsky, Alex Fernandez, Thomas, Ventura, McDowell, etc. Jose Quintana, more recently. The difference is those guys were big-time talents that were noticed by reams of scouts nationally well before they ever joined the Sox minor league system. I personally would be shocked to see him on the Sox MLB roster any time before September (at the earliest).

Yes, Greg, the 2004 and 2007 teams. And, if you look at the core of the 2013 team, Ortiz, Pedroia, Lester, Ellsbury, Buchholz and most of the bullpen were all brought in by Epstein before he left for the Cubs job in 2011 and Cherington took over. Cherington gets due credit for mixing in veterans like Napoli, Victorino, Saltalamacchia and Stephen Drew, but it was 75% an Epstein production. That said, it's really harder to judge the work of guys like Cashman and Epstein because Theo also signed a bunch of terrible free agent contracts over that timeframe that really came home to roost after he left and swamped the career of his successor (3 last place finishes in four years, with that one really good 2013). They also cost Terry Francona his job, the infamous "chicken and beer" in the clubhouse fiasco with Josh Beckett and a host of other veterans.

Zimmerman has given up 15 runs in his last 27 2/3 IP over four starts, including 7 against the Twins. 4.88 ERA. Just 2 in his first 33 IP covering 5 starts. Detroit is reeling a bit, they had bases loaded with no outs last night down by 2 at home in the bottom of the 9th against Chapman...JD Martinez then hit into a DP to make it 5-4, and Miggy Cabrera grounded out on a 101 MPH fastball to strand the tying runner at 3rd.

What team did Livingston play for in Peoria, was it Manual, Central or another one? All I remember was reading a book once about Steve Alford and he and many top collegiate coaches were recruiting that kid HARD when he was already in middle school...projecting a combination of Magic Johnson, Penny Hardaway and Marcus Liberty/Jamie Brandon in their primes. Tyler and Cody Zeller coming out of Indiana were the other big-time recruits around that time period, if memory serves correctly.

And, since he's been injured...he might at least consider it, because his numbers at the end of the year might be similar to what Alex Gordon put up last season. That said, every agent who has an 800+ OPS hitter in their stable under age 32 has to be salivating at that potential market next year (demand outstripping supply) and saying no way should you/he agree to anything before you see the lay of the land in November/December of 2016.

QUOTE (hi8is @ Jun 2, 2016 -> 11:36 PM) I believe Kershaw has more complete game shutouts this year than he does walks. I mean, come on. The Dodgers would just be buried in the standings behind the Giants without Kershaw. He's also the most valuable player as an individual to his team, for sure. He's the only stabilizing force keeping things together, without Anderson, McCarthy, Ryu, etc. It's inexplicable why they keep trotting out a 19 year old phenom at this point in Urias when he's clearly struggling to deal with the transition and especially against an offense like the Chicago Cubs right now.

The Indians are going nuts after two-walk off wins in a row, over TEX and now KC. I'm not sure what the hello Paulo Orlando was doing on Lindor's triple...it should have been a single instead if he pulled up, which would have meant the tying run was at 1st and only one out but a medium-depth fly to Dyson in LCF would have resulted in him staying at 1st with two outs instead of scoring the winning run on a sacrifice fly. Of course, it would have changed Napoli's approach as well. Three other Royals' errors in that game as well (should have been 4 in the span of just two innings, two on Orlando, one for Infante and Escobar)...and Reymond Fuentes had two "mistakes" as well with a throw home that should have gone to the cutoff man and a misread that resulted in a ball dropping in during the 8th. And, of course, his defensive replacement was Orlando, who made two more mistakes of his own. I saw before the series ideally CLEVE would take 3/4, but I'm starting to think that heating up CLE and letting them run in 1st might not be the best idea, either. Fortunately, they're without Brantley because of his shoulder problems and also have to replace Byrd as well. Not quite as shocking because it was Soria trying to close instead of Davis, but the way it was blown was a surprise to most.

Jon Jay has 9 hits in the last two games... Trade value skyrocketing! Of course, the Mariners got 9 two-out hits in one inning in last night's 12-2 blown lead...the White Sox haven't done that in a month.

Can't wait for the CEO's comments after THIS one...talk about tightening the noose around that poor team and AJ Preller. Feel sorry for Don Orsilo, 3 of the last 4 years he had to broadcast terrible Red Sox teams (did get another World Series win, though) and now this. Buchter (4 ER in 2/3), Mauer (3 ER with no outs), Matty (yes that one) Thornton (2 ER in 1/3). Alexei was on deck when the last out happened. Biggest comeback in baseball in seven years (2009) Biggest comeback in Mariners history. Biggest blown lead in Padres history. Reliever who just came up from the minors today got the "vulture" win. Wade Miley gave up 9 runs in 4 2/3 IP and still got a ND. The crazy thing is the Pads had three innings to get back into it...so not quite so dramatic as doing it in the 8th or especially the 9th. The last four runs scored (including go-ahead single by Shawn O'Malley) with Thornton on the hill. Of course there had to be a White Sox connection here,

Delmonico just got promoted from BIRM a week ago...if they promoted him this quickly, it would be borderline crazy.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/features/cyyoung I'm not sure their methodology, but Sale is clearly 1st in AL and NL goes Arrieta, Strasburg, Cueto and Kershaw. That's nutty, I can see Arrieta, MAYBE...but Kershaw has 30 more K's than him. Of course, Jeff Samardzija is 6th.

You almost think the Warriors were teasing them a bit, letting them believe they were actually getting back into the game down by 11. Would have been interesting to see what kind of player Livingston could have become without all those traumatic knee injuries. Cleveland has to win on Sunday to have any realistic chance of hanging in this series. Luckily for LeBron, there aren't the single days off between games or he would be walking dead by Game 4 or 5.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jun 2, 2016 -> 06:41 PM) Are you really making another random Silicon Valley reference? Please tell me I'm completely off-base here. As long as he has that huge image taking up the whole page, yes! At least he should change it to one of Monica occasionally, or Richard's latest attempt and Dinesh's Eastern European internet "galpal." Fine, Cubs are the greatest team in the world, Go Cubs Go, they can do no wrong...all they can do is wait for the next wave of pitching as they storm through the NL Central and create a new MLB clause that forces the rest of the teams in that division to spend a minimum of $125 million on payroll in order to have a prayer of JUST competing with the vaunted Cubs and their idiotic W flags and rapidly increasing crime/violence rates in the Wrigleyville area.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/how-golden-s...-213418306.html Almost makes you want to root for "blue collar" Cleveland...and LeBron. Almost. With the prices highlighted here, for the NFL, New York Yankees games, you're seeing this whole venture capital/unicorn start-up thing really start to impact the ability of even upper middle class people to go to games, especially the playoffs/post-season.

Royals blow the first game of the series in CLE due to 3 uncharacteristic errors and the fact Wade Davis wasn't available, so Soria tried to close and failed, primarily due to the talent known as Francisco Lindor. KC CLE/CHW 1 1/2 GB DET 5 GB Assuming Detroit loses to NYC, rookie Matt Boyd had a no-hitter going into the 6th but the Yankees finally got to him and took a 5-2 lead in the late innings. Game in progress.

The problem with Archer is he's not pitching very well so far this year...so you're paying for past results and potential to turn things around, without any guarantees. And Archer would cost Anderson AND Fulmer, in all likelihood. If you're the Rays, why would you accept anything less? He's probably the most valuable player they have left with that franchise, as Longoria has regressed quite a bit from his early form of 2008-2011.

The thing about Jason is he's a veteran who knows exactly his place and role on an MLB team. It's a toss-up between him and Leury, although Saladino brings some of those same positives minus the ability to play CF. If you bring up Coats or Hayes, they should be given more opportunities than either of those two utility guys would ordinarily receive to establish themselves...Coats, in particular. Most importantly, we've never had a baserunner like a Gore/Dyson than can just automatically take 2nd/3rd as a PR in the late inning. That's super critical when you play so many 1-2 run games. That's why they should go with one of the first two options UNLESS they are serious about letting Coats or Hayes play at least 2/3rd's of the time.

Cubs' World Series win or Richard Hendricks successfully managing a girlfriend? Which happens first?

It all comes down to health, as well. The Royals and Indians have suffered significant early-season losses and are still competitive. The biggest loss for the Sox has probably been Jake Petricka. In Brantley, Carlos Carrasco, Perez, Moustakas and Gordon, you're talking about 5 of the 20 best players in the division on the shelf. The Tigers have also been playing better with Cameron Maybin back.

Yeah, but with Reddick being one of the few "impact bats" available in the trade market...Beane's going to drive a very hard bargain. So how much are you willing to give up for a rental player that doesn't come with a compensation pick attached? Plus, coming back from an injury, he's going to need to establish that he's 100%. If he does, his value will rocket back up. If he doesn't in June, it's an even bigger risk to trade for him assuming he'll be fine the second half of the season. Keep in mind, with Sonny Gray sporting a 6.19 ERA and Coghlan's OPS in the low 500's, those are two trade chips off the market (for now). Same with Billy Butler. Reddick, Madson (if he keeps performing), along with Rich Hill....those are the three big "rebuilding" pieces for now.