caulfield12

Not with all the bad blood between the two....it would be like us acquiring Ventura. Another great question. I'd say this: Darvish, Holland, Gallardo, Gonzalez and Perez. Wouldn't have included Gallardo a month ago. But he was great in June. Also gives a young rotation the kind of veteran savvy that Colby Lewis has always supplied. I realize this squeezes out Nick Martinez and leaves out Colby and Matt Harrison. That's what competition is all about. Also, someone's always going to get hurt. dallas.com The Rangers have a wealth of pitching if they bring Hamels on board. Darvish/Hamels (two #1's) Derek Holland Yovani Gallardo Chi Chi Gonzalez Martin Perez, Colby Lewis, Nick Martinez and Matt Harrison would all be on the outside looking in...they could trade some of those guys along with Leonys Martin/Profar/Odor and really be a contender. That would leave Gallo, Hamilton, Choo and DeShields as the four outfielders, Beltre back at 3B, Fielder for DH, Moreland at 1B, Odor and Profar fighting it out for 2B (the other could be packaged in a trade)....if Andrus woke up and played at All-Star level again, or Choo....watch out. Need to clean up the bullpen (and they've got a long list of arms there now) and catcher's spot and they'll be in good shape.

QUOTE (Brian @ Jul 26, 2015 -> 08:38 AM) I feel like I have been one of the few that has been able to seperate Tom Cruise: Movie Star from Tom Cruise: Crazed Scientologist. The MI movies have been better than the past 5 Bond movies to me, outside of Casino Royale. Eva Green was really such a strong female counterpart to Craig in that one....of course, he's never going to marry and settle down, but most of the Bond Girls have been lightweights compared to her.

Sean Manaea was the pitcher there was a medical clearance concern about....fwiw. Great news for Royals' fans. They're 10th in the majors in attendance, Top 3 in tv ratings for their regional market, just had their 16th sellout of the season and now this. They absolutely needed an ace to give them a shot in the playoffs, their offense hasn't been nearly as dynamic as the first couple of months of the season, and that bullpen has taken a pounding with their IP totals. With Cueto, you can add Duffy and theoretically Ventura falls in line and doesn't feel so much pressure to be the ace. Blanton, Chris Young, Guthrie...not guys you want starting in the post-season, although they did give starts to Guthrie and the now injured Vargas. Medlen's been pitching out of the bullpen and still something of a wild card coming off TJ.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 26, 2015 -> 08:07 AM) You take those "odds" a little too seriously. They have improved the defense with Saldino and Sanchez and Alexei playing much better. If the White Sox hit like they were supposed to hit they have a shot, although slim, vut they do have enough pitching to win when scoring 2 or 3 . If they revert back to what it was before this series, they have no shot. Every season is unique. So when you go to Las Vegas, you would change your bet at the blackjack table based upon "feel" or "momentum"? I'm sure you would rather they stood pat and didn't trade Samardzija. On the other hand, I'm sure you're also waiting to defend the organization no matter who they get back in return via trade. Sure, we just scored 10 runs so things (for the moment, which lasts as long as today's starting pitcher) seem more optimistic, but the improvement of those guys doesn't take into account the fact that LaRoche and Garcia have pretty much disappeared. Are we really supposed to believe that Alexei has been psychologically affected so deeply by off field stuff and now he's miraculously back to the player he was in 2014 and will be able to sustain that for the next two months because he's been hot for a week or two?

QUOTE (Tex @ Jul 26, 2015 -> 09:30 AM) Good analysis. In the back of my mind is a belief that the organization remembers the terrible backlash after the "White Flag Trade" and has vowed not to repeat it. That's all fine and good, but that was before 2005. Most intelligent White Sox fans realize that desperation to get back into a one-game playoff isn't as important as preserving the viability of competing over that 3-5 year window we keep hearing about.

Would anyone be happy if we traded Tim Anderson and Montas for Justin Upton, for example? Sure, we can upgrade one position offensively, but even someone like Upton is going to force Avi to the bench...and he's never played in the AL, so you'll have the inevitable league adjustment, and then you'll end up losing him as a free agent. If they're going to add a bat, he better already be familiar with AL Central pitching, or it's pointless. The fact of the matter is that a compensation pick has about a 10% chance of helping us 3-5 years from now. On the other hand, Hahn can't just sit there patiently waiting for something to happen in terms of improving the line-up ("this compensation pick is part of our new and improved five year plan") or he'll be out of a job before Ventura.

QUOTE (WhiteSoxLifer @ Jul 26, 2015 -> 08:10 AM) Sources: Momentum building toward Hamels trade. Offers have improved since no-hitter. Teams asking for less money, offering better players. https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/625304658140098560 The five teams with the most recent interest in Hamels: #Cubs, #Dodgers, #Rangers, #Yankees, #SFGiants. Not listed in any particular order. https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/625304666017013760 Wow...the Rangers, you'd have to think they're thinking more long-term than this season, although they have a slight chance THIS year. Definitely have the minor league pieces to make it work, and the budget/payroll. That's the kind of move you would have expected out of the White Sox a decade ago, the equivalent of trading for F. Garcia in 2004.

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Jul 25, 2015 -> 10:15 PM) KC and their soft hits man. They have been magicians with that BABIP luck. Make enough contact, you make your own luck. The White Sox and Royals have about the same walk rates, neither team is filled with power hitters (Morales is the closest, and he's more of a line drive hitter whose balls carry out of the park)...but they have enough speed on the basepaths and the contact hitters in the line-up to make it work.

QUOTE (Brian @ Jul 26, 2015 -> 06:16 AM) Early but with 26 reviews in, Mission Impossible 5 is at 96%. Only one bad review. Good to hear cuz I loved Ghost Protocol. "Rogue Nation solidifies the fact that Tom Cruise is the quintessential action star, carrying the quintessential action franchise. With all due respect to 007, at the moment, nobody does it better." http://www.timeout.com/london/film/mission...le-rogue-nation This was about the worst review, it reads completely like a neg but showing up as a tomato. In point of fact, there are very few series (other than Bond and Fast/Furious) that have now stretched out for such a long time period and remain as entertaining as ever...like or hate Tom Cruise, that's a pretty significant accomplishment. It's hard to imagine The Avengers, for example, being as equally popular 15 years from now as in this last 2-3 years. Of course, a large part of that depends on the directors and viewing tastes changing. The Bourne series pushed Bond and Mission: Impossible in another darker, colder direction, and also made possible the success of similar movies like Huntsman: The Secret Service.

And it's still very difficult for me to imagine with the Tigers hanging in there around .500 that they're just going to white flag it and deal Price, Cespedes, Soria, Davis, Avila, etc. Will believe it when it happens. But it has never been the Illitch style, that's for sure.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/standings/probability.jsp Well, while it's predicting us to have a better chance to make the wild card than three teams, that still leaves 5-6 ahead of us. Toronto is the scenario here, ahead of the Twins. Despite us taking three in a row against the Indians, they still have better odds.

Obviously Hamels is driving his own market up, and some of these other pitching names that are coming up more recently (Shields, Cashner, Ross, Gallardo, Haren) have changed the market to an extent, but each one is a pretty unique situation. The Royals have basically been forced to add another starter, and that wasn't the case two weeks ago...not in order to make the playoffs, but to get anywhere once they arrive there and pitching becomes more and more critical. The Cubs and Astros are also feeling the pressure, although it seems for the moment Houston has weathered the storm and are right back in the thick of things. Then you have the Twins and Mets, two teams that arrived on the scene a year early, like the Cubs and Astros. None of those teams can really afford to completely stand pat without adding somewhere...of course, the Mets have the pitching surplus, but there are always big market teams out there like the Dodgers and Yankees circling like vultures for pitching. Toronto and Baltimore are in situations where they could go either way...but the indicator SHOULD point to adding as weak as the AL East is and the fact that there are two spots essentially up for grabs there if you're not taking the Twins 100% seriously.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jul 26, 2015 -> 06:03 AM) Not sure if this was posted anywhere, but a Cueto trade to the Royals nearly happened yesterday. Apparently one of the guys the Reds would have received had some red flags in their medicals so the trade was called off (for now). Have not seen any other details on parameters of the trade. Looks like we might see some movement on the Shark front as soon as today. I would guess Mondesi, Jr., has to be one of those names. The Reds will need a replacement for Phillips soon enough...and there's a possibility they deal Frazier, although after the All-Star game, he's become even more of the "franchise player" than ever for that organization, and they still might deal Cueto, Chapman and Bruce.

We're really in the middle of no man's land...where there's a PLAUSIBLE scenario of making the playoffs, albeit one that only about 10-15% of fans are willing to buy into. Surely, there won't be any bump in attendance at all until the team makes it back to .500, and the odds of that happening are not that great if we deal Samardzija. Well, let's just say that Erik Johnson doesn't give as much confidence as Shark the way he's pitched the past two months. But picking in the teens compared to #5-8 really significantly decreases our opportunity of drafting an impact collegiate hitter like a Schwarber right away...over the last 10-15 years or so, how many college bats in the 10-15 range of the draft have moved up to the majors in that draft year or the following one?

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Jul 25, 2015 -> 02:04 PM) I'm currently arguing with some Mets fan on Reddit who claims Quintana wouldn't come close to making the Mets rotation. Will the guy ever get any love outside Chicago? Undoubtedly bitter because the Mets and Yanks both controlled his rights and let him go for nothing.

http://www.salon.com/2015/07/25/its_not_wh...s_toxic_appeal/ Pretty good article about why Trump has been so appealing.

QUOTE (Middle Buffalo @ Jul 24, 2015 -> 09:01 AM) I understand, but my guess is that she still follows the Sox. Soxtalk is a good source for info - especially when you are busy with family stuff/work/life. So, it would stand to reason that she (and others who leave) check in occasionally. Going from posting 100 times per day to not posting at all is kind of crazy. Almost as crazy as posting 100 times per day in the first place. Marty34 checked in as recently as June but still hasn't posted in a long time. It's not a last post, but The Ultimate Champion has one of those acts of contrition posts at his profile page, it's pretty funny and sounds exactly like what you would expect from him. I would like to apologize to every one I have offended on this web site. I also would like to apologize to every one who is not a member of this web site who has also been offended by the words I have written. I would like to further apologize to the entire White Sox organization as well. This user name was intended to be a joke, but I have since learned that the joke was on me, and that I was part of the joke also, and that there are many jokes in total, and many lies, and that I was a part of many of them, and that none of them are funny when they hurt. Sports were only a vice for me, and a comfortable one at that, and in reveling in that comfortable vice I casted down others freely and openly, and wrongly, without regard to the feelings of others. I used to go in circles of confusion on here, but I have now found that it is much easier to go in circles toward the TRUTH than anything else. All one needs to do is find a little Inspiration.

QUOTE (Lip Man 1 @ Jul 24, 2015 -> 10:10 PM) I think there is some truth to what you say. There are more guys for example dealing 100 MPH then ever before but how many teams can say they have five 'decent' starters and the bullpen to back them? Still pretty rare. The Sox could be in that position if Rodon, Fullmer, Eric Johnson develop in the next two years (since they'll be losing Shark and Danks). I can understand if they feel they can't gamble and deplete that potential rotation even further. (And like with anything else, there's no guarantees someone doesn't get hurt, or simply lose it.) Mark Montas is just as likely as Johnson to make an impact...he probably has the youth/confidence advantage on his side.

QUOTE (Lip Man 1 @ Jul 24, 2015 -> 09:36 PM) Two big differences between those franchises and the White Sox in my opinion. 1. Both have won World Series more recently than the White Sox. Their fan base hasn't reached the point that by and large the Sox fan base has. 2. Both are the "only game in town." No other team in their market baseball-wise taking away the casual fans and their dollars or generating positive publicity. Phillies and Red Sox still draw pretty well, much better than the White Sox who last I looked were 27th or 28th in MLB. (That may have changed recently as they drew well for the Royals series because of the 2005 reunion and the Cardinals who brought a ton of fans with them...) Mark They were barely in 26th. Right now, you'd have to say they're in a better position than Oakland (unless a new stadium or relocation), Cleveland, Tampa and Miami. You could argue the Mariners as well, but they just got that huge injection of money from a new regional broadcasting rights deal. That Cano deal will be a killer, and Nelson Cruz in another year or so. Arizona is in a comparable position, the Rockies and Padres (read the AJ Preller article and imagine SoxTalk after a series of moves that dubious and short-sighted) as well. The Brewers also have a pretty bleak future, although they draw much better. Atlanta's in a holding pattern but with a new stadium on the way.

There's no way to get Puig without going through Quintana or Sale. Why would the Dodgers want prospects/suspects when they have plenty of them already? They want close to sure things. Guaranteed performance. They're short term needing a third/fourth starter who's reliable/dependable. Montas and Avi are both far from that, or Tim Anderson as well. They might be willing to trade prospects for prosoects, but definitely not in this situation as the centerpiece.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 24, 2015 -> 06:50 PM) Be honest and think here. In a movie theater, under fire, it's dark, only light is from the screen. You really think that under fire, probably from behind, you could turn around, aim, and get a clean shot off without accidentally hitting the wrong person? While the person has a semi-automatic handgun and can keep pulling the trigger? Per the police, as the crowd was leaving the theater this guy snuck into it and almost got out of the theater before someone stopped the crowd/stopped him. The people fleeing the room didn't identify the shooter as he left the theater with the group. They couldn't tell. Now you're telling me you could honestly figure out who the shooter was with enough accuracy to pull the trigger? The closest example of a mass shooting interacting with a person carrying a weapon I can think of is the Gabrielle Giffords shooting and the person across the street who had the gun nearly shot the wrong person. And that was in the daylight. And he had bright dyed orange hair...and it was still not easy in the dark.

I wonder if there's a close correspondence with the radio ratings? While the inferior product on the field is always the biggest consideration, number two might be the divisive presence of Hawk Harrelson. 1) Older White Sox fans might enjoy Harrelson more, but they're dying out...that generation of fans who grew up with Sox fandom in the 1950s and 60s. 2) The sandwich generation has moved on after the World Series title to getting married and raising their kids. 3) The World Series presented an opportunity in 2005-06 to capitalize on drawing a new younger generation of kids to Sox fandom but the organization clearly didn't capitalize on the opportunity and their interest was also drawn to the BlackHawks. These young fans perhaps don't enjoy grumpy/umpire conspiracy Harrelson as much, and don't get his historical references or golf tangents. 4) Young positional prospects (see Cubs) are generally more exciting for fans (and offense, in general) than building an arsenal of arms.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 24, 2015 -> 04:07 PM) Probably Singapore. There was just an article at yahoo travel about how safe (unless you have weed or gum), hot/muggy, expensive and boring (mostly shopping malls and restaurants) it was there...the main point of the article was that tourism was way down in Singapore as well as Dubai.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 24, 2015 -> 03:43 PM) Tex you are a great person and should run for office! Greg, basically you're describing a mixture of Donald Trump with the aggressive nature of Michael Douglas' character in the "white men fight back" movie Falling Down. While we've probably all sympathized with the breakfast at the fast food restaurant (why doesn't the food ever look like the pictures on the menu? I want my breakfast even though it's 10:31!) scene, perhaps threatening everyone with a handgun to get whatever you want won't work if everyone starts to do that. What if two Trumps meet each other? How will they avoid a "saving face" confrontation...and de-escalate it? From his appearance on the Scarborough show, it seems he wants to just provoke arguments over anything at this point. Imagine the leaders of Iran or North Korea did anything remotely offensive...like airing a propaganda/satire movie (The Interview crossed with You've Been Trumped). Is there any conceivable way to imagine they wouldn't be nuked out of existence? If someone shouted "you lie!" during a speech to Congress (or threw shoes at him) he'd just pull out a revolver and blast away. Is that what we really want to be teaching our children? For every would-be hero who saves someone, there are going to be ten who get themselves and a number of innocent bystanders killed. Do we want "good samaritan" laws that protect civilians who accidentally kill others in public with handguns?

I think one of the reasons the rake or slant of the upper deck became such an issue was the lack of a roof backdrop originally...the perception that it's safer or more protected to be up there. Undoubtedly the inclusion of the club/luxury boxes forced it as well, since the seats were getting pushed further away from the playing surface. If you could look from the upper deck and have a higher, unobstructed view straight towards the downtown skyline those tickets would be much easier to sell for night games. The feel would be totally different.