caulfield12

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 31, 2015 -> 11:21 AM) Many of the buildings, including the Bird's Nest stadium, are now ghost towns. They're planning to reuse those facilities for the Opening/Closing ceremonies, Athletes' Village, etc. From what I've seen online, it's mostly things like beach volleyball and kayaking/canoeing courses. Not any different from Athens, Sydney or some of the former host cities. The weirdest site (like Chernobyl) is the bobsled/luge run at Sarajevo from 1984.

Don't forget the Rangers, now that they have Hamels. They're more likely to be there than the Tigers sans Price, Soria and Cespedes.

The hitter who had the highest OPS of all the bats available and who used to be one of the best defenders in baseball...interesting he can't even get a 2nd page on his thread. Who was the poster who was absolutely in love with Parra on the DBacks and hyped him like an Adopt A Prospect?

If the White Sox didn't have the killer schedule they do over the next six series, then it would be be worth considering something more short-term... And sure, there are a lot of teams with killer schedules coming up, look at what the Giants have to face in August, for example. If the White Sox were in a position financially to go out and spend unlimited amounts in the off-season, it wouldn't matter, but that's not realistic. It's pretty apparent we could have had Hector Olivera, for example, for the next five years and only $32 million remaining on his deal (and a sixth year for $1 million if he had elbow surgery) if we had been willing to trade Shark at that moment. (This is where the argument comes in that because Wood has multiple years of control, he wouldn't have netted the same package as Wood did, which is impossible to determine with all the other moving pieces in that deal). Even the most optimistic fans in their heart of hearts can't realistically expecting the White Sox to do much more than a game or two above .500 with our upcoming schedule, and more likely a game or two under .500, especially if we dealt Shark and had to replace him with Johnson from here on out. We also are cognizant of the fact that the AL East is softer than the AL Central because the Royals are probably the best team in the league at this point...and that the Blue Jays have four superstars now on that team, and Encarnacion as well. Everyone is picking them at this point, especially AA, whose job and future depend upon those moves working out. He's going for broke. Surrender? No. But make moves that don't completely push this team back into 2017 in terms of competing...take on a contract like James Shields for 30-50% of the rate they would have had to pay for him at the beginning of the year, for example. Get the equivalent of a Hector Olivera for 3B. Maybe there's not an impact catcher out there, but the Giants still have Susac and Sanchez and lots of interesting pieces in the low minors. Bruce/Cargo, whatever...give us at least one position player or a starting pitcher that makes the heavy lifting in the off-season all that easier. At the very least, a Napoli for tier b/c prospects who will give LaRoche relief against LHP and bring another veteran into the clubhouse. Right now, the only players we know for sure who will be back as starters are Cabrera, Eaton and Abreu...and leaning heavily towards keeping Alexei (which has changed in the last 3-4 weeks). That gives you 2 months to make determinations on catcher, A.Garcia, Saladino/Sanchez/Johnson and LaRoche...as well as time to look at Erik Johnson, Montas, Nate Jones, etc. Odds are pretty high that of Saladino/Johnson/Sanchez, we'll be fortunate to get one regular/starter of those three. So we can confidently say we have 5 1/2 players (counting LaRoche as 1/2 for now) and are going to have to fill 3B, C and RF/LF. That's a lot better than a month ago, so there's that.

The Twins also need to do something...anything. A reliever, bat (they're willing to part with Arcia for a rental), another starter. Ryan hasn't made a huge trade in seemingly a decade.

QUOTE (Frank_Thomas35 @ Jul 31, 2015 -> 08:08 AM) I agree I don't want to give up Montas or Anderson. Or Avi but im good witth Davidson and or EJ Do we still even have Hector Noesi? He's in AAA?

QUOTE (spiderman @ Jul 31, 2015 -> 08:06 AM) If it's safe to assume that the rotation next year will include: - Sale - Quintana - Rodon - Danks They are obviously hoping to get Samrdizia back...I can understand why the White Sox think they can move Johnson (although losing Samardzia, a #2 type starter would hurt the quality of the rotation) given they have in-house candidates to replace Danks after next season (or even during) while the rest of the rotation is young. Sox have a done fabulous job of developing pitching. But that depth disappears in a hurry if you're forced to deal Quintana as a result of not possessing the financial resources (or projected season ticket purchasers) to go out and make enough meaningful additions via trade or FA this off-season.

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Jul 31, 2015 -> 08:01 AM) So his utter dominance down there means nothing? Really? Guys who completely tear up AAA stick at the MLB level more often than not. Even if you don't believe in EJ, his turnaround has increased his value quite a bit. If we wanted to trade him, we could do a lot better than an Upton rental. The problem is that he's yet to prove anything at the big league level this year, and he had an unexplainable breakdown last year that still hasn't been diagnosed to anyone's satisfaction. The Cubs are in a similar situation looking to deal Baez but teams not valuing him the same way they did in say May, 2014. If this was the 2013-14 offseason or mid-season 2013, then it would be a different situation, but some of the bloom's off the rose. Then again, that kind of streak of excellence is going to raise some eyebrows when half your games are played in Charlotte. I would be pretty shocked if the Padres would accept him as the centerpiece of a possible trade.

The thing is, if they do trade Johnson, they're going to go out and get another pitcher unless they want to push Fulmer and Montas into the rotation in April of 2016. It would be pretty incredible...so Erik does have a lot more value to us than he does to other teams. As for pitching in SD, we've had guys like Richard and Eric Stults (let get away for nothing) pitch pretty well there. Pitching hasn't been one of the biggest issues for the Padres, it's offense and it will be bullpen if they trade away Kimbrel. That's probably why they would target Montas, to make him a closer.

The Dodgers essentially ate about $50 million on Olivera and Morse alone.

2. Where does Upton land? The Baltimore Orioles, Chicago White Sox or New York Mets seem the most likely destination. The Orioles have received terrible production from their outfield corners and while they're just a game over .500, they're only two back of the Minnesota Twins for the second wild-card spot. The White Sox climbed back into the wild-card race with a seven-game winning streak, although that was snapped Thursday as the Boston Red Sox pounded Chris Sale in one of the worst outings of his career. The White Sox spent a lot of money in the offseason (Melky Cabrera, Adam LaRoche, David Robertson) so they may fancy themselves contenders even if the minus-52 run differential suggests otherwise. Their next six series are against the New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, Chicago Cubs and Angels again, so that tough slate may drop them back down in the standings. The Mets? The question there is whether ownership is willing to spend the money on Upton's contract, or if they'd give up a better prospect if the Padres included cash. Prediction: White Sox. I'm starting to think KW is a bit insane. The "under the radar" player we'd be better off with is Gerardo Parra, since he won't cost nearly as much as Upton and is exactly the kind of player who if he fits in would be more easily lured back next season. (Yet somehow, Shuck/Avi will "block" Parra in a way they won't with Upton.) Rumors that Aroldis Chapman is being moved (a couple of days ago they said he was off the market)... http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/i...gs-to-watch-for It's crazy to think if you went back ten days ago that we'd be accepting a compensation pick for Shark and we'd be trading one of our top 4-5 prospects to rent a slumping Justin Upton for two months and not get a comp pick back for him.

QUOTE (Elgin Slim @ Jul 30, 2015 -> 10:40 PM) /thread However there are a disproportionate percentage of the rich people who are white. I don't know the numbers exactly, but I'd guess that at least 85% of those people who are super rich are white. Now on to another subject: If you are white AND disabled, good f***ing luck to you. You get no protections except those under the ADA, which are a start but need to be expanded at this point. If you are a racial minority, and disabled, you have double the rights of the other guy. It makes a company more willing to take you on because you kill two tax breaks with one job. Otherwise FOD. Everybody should know how business treats disabled people. It is despicable. I have firsthand experience with it, but won't go into it. there is a reason why the disabled have 70% UE even in the best of times. You are allowed to ask for "reasonable accommodations" but "reasonable" is not defined by you it is defined by the employer, which in turn means that the question is asked: 1) Does it cost us a cent to make this request possible? if the answer is no, then sure, come aboard. if it costs them even 50 cents to make that accommodation, then f*** off, that is unreasonable. In any event, did anyone hear about the scandal with the ADA hiring? Despicable, greedy, and selfish. I hope these people rot in jail, and i think that we should take all of the $ from the CEOs of these companies involved bank accounts and put it all into the SSI/SSDI fund. It is super tough to live on less than 900 dollars a month even if you have not to pay for room and board. Sounds like a situation not unlike the recent VA hospitals scandal. Except veterans in this day and age (anything past the Vietnam War) are treated with much more respect than in the past...and there are a lot more charities to support them (although we can never be sure about much of that money is actually getting to them directly, as opposed to executive salaries, marketing/direct fundraising costs and just simple scams/corruption like a recent situation with the NASCAR driver Busch's g/f).

QUOTE (Tex @ Jul 30, 2015 -> 08:48 PM) A couple things in his defense, before I mention I hope he is in prison for a long time. There have been many studies how wrong people get chains of events in their mind. It seemed this all happened in less than a second. He truly may have felt threatened for that second. He could not identify the person. The guy could have been a criminal with warrants. But again, I'm guessing a middle aged white guy who forgot his license would be alive today. On the b.s. side, the cop was fishing for something bigger than no front license plate. Even if he did know (as he was approaching the vehicle) that DuBuse was driving with a suspended license, where's the probable cause or reasonable suspicion to assume he's a criminal with warrants other than the location and skin color of the victim? That lazy type of racial profiling isn't going to turn up as justifiable excuse for him to use deadly force in that situation.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jul 30, 2015 -> 09:38 PM) But it could've been a "We'll only give you Ross if you take Middlebrooks as well" type of thing. Like Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis. Except Middlebrooks doesn't have anything closely resembling the train wreck of a contract that Willis did at that time. That trade was as much about the financial power of the Tigers to swallow a busted contract than it was that Maybin/Miller were better prospects than we were able to come up to match it from our system. That trade was the equivalent of Tim Anderson and Carson Fulmer going in one deal...

QUOTE (Frank_Thomas35 @ Jul 30, 2015 -> 06:52 PM) I think I rather have Anderson Of course, if the Reds are going to hold onto Chapman, Votto and also Frazier next season, why would they deal Bruce for something less than the return they want? It's going to have to be Anderson or Montas, or there likely won't be any deal. They're probably not going to accept the likes of Micah Johnson or Courtney Hawkins.

QUOTE (elwood5892 @ Jul 30, 2015 -> 11:39 PM) @ChrisCotillo: A rough outline of what a deal could look like: Ross, Kimbrel to HOU. Marisnick, Appel, prospects to SD. Again, unclear if deal is close. Houston and San Diego working on something apparently The Angels are now 2 games behind Houston again...they might be rethinking their much smaller, under the radar set of moves to patch their offense this week.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 30, 2015 -> 09:48 PM) Nobody knew he was going to get hurt. You give a pitcher a lot of money you will get burned. Look at Detroit. They paid Price 19.75 mill this season and was DYING to get rid of him. Blame baseball owners and GMS; why blame Danks. He f***ing got hurt. If the Sox sign Shark you'll be just as mad at him when he gets hurt with his 18-20 mill dollar contract. Yes but it's a process. Just keep winning series and go on another 7 of 8 run at some point and Sox figure to be OK, unless some of the better teams play to their potential and pull away (o's, blue jays, rangers). Price was pitching great until his last start against his former team....that wasn't the problem, his FA status at the end of the year was. They valued the package they got in return for him and the prospect for Soria and whatever they'll get for Cespedes, Rajai Davis and Avila as a better ROI than the very slim probability of them making the playoffs from 3 games under, Verlander still not back to 100% and Anibal Sanchez a shadow of his former self and no solutions at the 4/5 spots in the rotation. Most importantly, Miguel Cabrera's out (and perhaps the injury is more serious than first reported), and their line-up's not going anywhere without him as the driving force.

Pedro Alvarez is going to be available if the Pirates get an Adam Lind type for 1B...that position's been something of a black hole for Pittsburgh the last couple of seasons. Ｂｕｔ　ｄｏｅｓ　ｈｅ　ｈｉｔ　ｌｅｆｔｉｅｓ？

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/standings/probabili...sp?ymd=20150730 Post season odds right now at 8.7%, but still behind the Tigers (obviously the BP predictor doesn't take into account Price/Soria no longer being on the roster)

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 30, 2015 -> 09:06 PM) Huge Giants/Cubs series next week. 4 games, but as of now, of course MadBum is the only starter they'll miss. Hopefully Giants get someone like Leake before the deadline. White Sox need to send Samardzija there to stop the Cubs...bring back Sanchez/Susac and a top prospect from the low minors. Check out the Giants' schedule the next 20-25 games. BRUTAL.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jul 30, 2015 -> 09:03 PM) Same here. The overreaction after the inevitable loss, while expected, is still mind-boggling. It kind of feels like a "double loss" because we were so close to .500 again, Sale was on the mound, the Red Sox had just completely fallen apart last night...and now today the Tigers are bringing in some legit prospects to breathe new life into that franchise (and if they can bring in someone like Cueto/Greinke it will be more discouraging) and we're kind of stuck out there in no man's land. That and the fact that Tulo/Price/Donaldson/Bautista and the rest of that offense makes the Blue Jays an even more difficult team for the White Sox to pass.

3 1/2 games right now assuming the Twins close out their 9-5 lead late. The exact position of the White Flag Sox and the White Flag Tigers yesterday. Except that White Sox team only had the Indians to contend with, not the Tigers, Rangers, Blue Jays, Orioles, Rays and Twins.

Yep, fortunate timing with Ramirez, Fiers and Carlos Gomez all vacating the premises... Thankfully, even if the Mets aren't going to challenge them from below, there's always the Giants to have faith in to prevent the zombie apocalypse. Astros/Angels 0-0 into the bottom of the 9th in HOU, don't see that very often, even in today's offensively-inert environment.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jul 30, 2015 -> 08:49 PM) Yes, it should have... we were literally inches away from being 3-3 those games, and don't forget we went something like 9-3 right before that 1-5 stretch. Yes, but you can argue with our rs/ra ratio, all the dramatic late comebacks from down 3-4 runs in the first six weeks or so (there must have been five or six of them), the fact that we're playing two rookies on the infield who have never been through a pennant race, there's just a lot of factors arrayed against them (along with the upcoming schedule). Baltimore's been really quiet, and Minnesota hasn't made a move, either. You'd have to imagine they will all come up with something in the next 17 hours or so.

Back to a tie with the Tigers, who managed to close out a slim 9-8 lead (was 9-2) with apparent new closer Wilson. The problem, of course, is that Sox brass hasn't seen how they would compete with top-flight competition (since the All-Star Break) other than the Royals and Cardinals...obviously, they let one of the Cards games get away, but they're simply not in a position to add 2 of the top 20 players in baseball in Price and Tulo. AA is gambling his future as a GM on those deals working out. The White Sox are not in the same position.