caulfield12

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ May 13, 2016 -> 09:02 PM) Between the minors and majors, he's thrown about 1,000 less innings than Greinke. That'll likely be a selling point as well (assuming he keeps pitching great until then). He also broke out kind of late meaning he will look to cash in on his one chance (as he has already come out and said for the most part). Yes, BUT. If you look at his career track record, and then tremendous increase of innings pitched the last TWO seasons, especially the number of "high stress" pitches in 2015 because of the post-season, well the human shoulder and elbow aren't meant to take that much stress. I'm not looking at the numbers right in front of me, but I'd have to guess the increase/s from 2013 to 2014 and then 2014 to 2015 are pretty darned significant. Of course, you can argue guys like Felix Hernandez and Justin Verlander a decade ago were both throwing upper 90's and now are more consistently 89-92 MPH with their fastballs. Nobody can defeat Father Time.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ May 13, 2016 -> 09:00 PM) The thing about our roster is that defensively its pretty amazing in the positions that arent hitting great. If anything we need a sweet pinch hitter in the Matt Stairs mold. OUr defense is whats carrying this team and removing someone like Jackson or Rollins is just not going to help If Avila can actually stay consistent with that short/quick swing to LCF, it would be HUGE for the Sox. He doesn't have to be the 2011 or 2012 Avila, an All-Star caliber guy, just something in between. You can bet both he and Jackson want to prove to Alex's dad that he was wrong to let them both go...especially when we face the Tigers.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ May 13, 2016 -> 08:53 PM) This isn't a guess. He's asking for the largest contract for a pitcher ever. I don't mean about the biggest contract. I meant about the "best" pitcher. I wouldn't give it to him if I were the Cubs. Would use my minor league system/draft/international to work around it. Another option is making the offense even MORE dangerous, like taking on Ryan Braun's contract. The odds of an injury/breakdown are simply too high. You have to get maximum value out of a pitcher his first 6 years and, if you're lucky, you can extend a couple of gems like Sale and Quintana EARLY but you can't wait until year 5 or 6. By then, a free agency payday is too close. The best thing that could happen for the Cubs would be winning the World Series THIS year and then having less pressure to keep Arrieta from the fans' standpoint...if Lester breaks down and Arrieta is allowed to leave (assuming they don't win it yet), then Cubs fans will be constantly ruing let him get away. (Dad, why did the Cubs trade Rafael Palmeiro and let Greg Maddux and Arrieta go, too?)

Yeah, for that WGN scenario to make sense, you'd have to jump to a big stretch that Harry Caray and the White Sox would have been drawing such big ratings that they would have gone exclusively with White Sox games. Both teams in the early 80's, were pretty up and down. The Sox had 1983, the Cubs 1984...and then 1987 and 1989 (earthquake offseason). It's almost impossible to imagine WGN being interested in the Sox as a property from 1985 until the opening of the new stadium. That was just a "dead era" for White Sox baseball until you had all of our Top 10 collegiate draft picks make an impact at the end of the decade (McDowell/Ventura/Thomas/Fernandez). Vin Scully or Ernie Harwell couldn't have done anything to make those Sox teams interesting for a national audience...and they were not very fun to watch offensively, even worse, they were just dull other than Ozzie, Bainesy and Ivan Calderon.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ May 13, 2016 -> 08:42 PM) Its a win either way. Its either going to be awful for them or they are going to lose the best pitcher in the league. I'd go with Kershaw or Syndergaard/Sale...but then someone who's averaging almost 98 MPH as a starter isn't long from the surgeon's office, either.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ May 13, 2016 -> 08:38 PM) Imagine is this team had Trayce in CF and Semien at SS We'd have a cheaper roster, that's for sure. (And probably a 21-15 record without Frazier, if not 20-16). Perfect additions would have been Abad (lefties 0 for 17 against him), Park or Trumbo at DH, Maeda for the rotation...but Hahn obviously didn't know LaRoche was leaving and Avisail at least hasn't been a negative compared to last year (especially defensively). And if you look at that guys like Upton and Gordon, only Cespedes has been earning his money (and still not sure he's worth THAT much). As long as Anderson makes it as an impact player at SS, trading Semien won't hurt nearly so much. The one thing to remember with Thompson is that he's primarily getting at-bats in favorable situations and hasn't been playing everyday because of Joc Pederson's presence there...kind of like when Viciedo was protected in a similar way against really tough RHP and that was exposed later on in his career. Also, Inciarte's really struggling for the Braves and we might take a stab at him as the 4th outfielder, but he's not going to come for free.

Twins let the Indians get away with one. Hit four homers (Park 2, Nunez and Sano) but still couldn't get the win. Had leads of 2-0, 4-2, 5-4. Park just missed a third homer (three Koreans have had multiple homer games in the last week, in MLB history it has only happened five total times, Kang/Park/Lee recently and the other two must have been Choo and Hee Sop Choi). Sano is looking better and better offensively (still vulnerable to breaking stuff, especially outside) but still a mess defensively. Weird to see Uribe in an Indians uniform. Twins had two huge chances with bases loaded to blow the game open, but Arcia and Suzuki struck out against McAllister. Cody Allen looked REALLY shaky. Park had an at-bat at the end of the game where he ripped a ball down the line but he pulled it just enough to barely go foul or the Twins would have taken the lead again. In the Orioles game, Verlander looked as good as he has all season but still not good enough against the O's, who are now one of the hottest teams in baseball again. Tigers lost 1-0, had a leadoff double in the late innings and couldn't move him from second. 8 1/2 games back now in the standings and teams are circling their roster for guys like Kinsler, Victor Martinez and JD Martinez. Tigers have taken to putting Upton in CF in order to get rookie Stephen Moya's bat in the line-up (Gose out)...but that creates another set of problems for them defensively. Royals looking like they're going to stay 6 1/2 games back (5-1 late). Both the Twins and Braves have the same record, 7-26. YIKES. The thing is, the Twins have some really nice looking offensive players. The problem is their starting rotation and defense...Plouffe, Arcia and Dozier haven't been nearly as dangerous as last year, and then Buxton had to be sent down again. But Mauer, Park, Santana and Sano all look pretty dangerous, especially Park and Sano. They've had a lot of pitching injuries, and their bullpen is a complete mess (Trevor May has good stuff but hung the game-winner to ageless Marlon Byrd with a 1-2 count and converted SS Santana couldn't flag it down in CF)...not to mention the injury/ineffectiveness with their closer. Wish we had Fernando Abad (lefties are 0 for 17 so far against him) and Park on the Sox roster. With the hitting success of the Koreans, hopefully we'll start to take a harder look there than in previous years.

So Hickory, would you be against her attending Northwestern, where many of the freshman dorms have "common showers" with unisex stalls together in the same bathroom and boys living on one side of the same floor, girls on the other? Does being 18+ years old change your feeling about this issue? Or maybe that has changed with NU, but that was the case around 1988-1990. Just curious from a parenting perspective...I know it's not the same.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/la-s...-htmlstory.html Dodgers' columnist wants to see Puig sent down and Crawford released (eventually)...the strange thing about this season is he was really hitting well the first 2-3 weeks and then "lost it" again.

That Bush story is going to be another movie if he makes it back successfully. They had him clocked at 97-99 in spring training. A much darker version of Jim Morris' "Rookie" Disney story (Dennis Quaid), albeit with a lot rockier personal path filled with a number of demons on the part of Bush. For now, a story of redemption. Reminiscent of Josh Hamilton's as well, although Bush isn't going to win an MVP or anything like that. Crazy part of the story is he's 30 years old now. http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-p...ui_crash_032612 Looks like the Rangers are cleaning house w/ that bullpen.

Players that should be moved and bring the most value back are Huston Street, Kole Calhoun, and Hector Santiago. July 2015: Yoenis Cespedes from DET to NYM for 2 of Met's top 15 prospects. This is a decent comparison for Calhoun because they are both power hitting OF's that play great defense but in our situation Calhoun holds higher value because he's a lefty with an extra year of control. He will easily net 3 top prospects and those 3 players would immediately become our top 3 prospects (lol). Just goes to show how far off teams' fans and opposing teams' fans are about trade value/s for a player...that said, Huston Street might be the more interesting option to supplement our bullpen. Calhoun's going to be too expensive on the prospect front...and their need for Anderson is somewhat mitigated by the presence of Simmons (granted, he's injured currently).

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ May 13, 2016 -> 08:02 AM) I'm willing to bet that Jason Benetti over the next 25 years or so, never leaves the broadcast to check on a player. How many times has Vin Scully done it? I'll wait for my answer. Only because players and former players don't want to have anything to do with nerds...

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ May 13, 2016 -> 06:19 AM) I think you've asked about that specific website before, and yes it is steaming garbage, and no claufield it is not comparable to nyt. I wasn't referring to quality...it's more filled with "conspiracy" type stuff. Just saying that no Republicans would put much stock in what the NY Times has to say in terms of its opinions or editorial board. There really isn't a direct "left wing" equivalent of a website aiming at the investor/business class audience yet really liberal in orientation. It's a much less competent and even more opinionated version of Forbes.

Not the best match-ups for the White Sox rivals. Minnesota for the Indians, Braves for the Royals...thankfully DET plays against the Orioles, hopefully you can stick a form in them early so we can start padding our victory total later in the year against them. Odds are we won't have a winning record against all four teams, but 14-5 or 15-4 against MN and maybe 13-6 against the Tigers would go a long ways to making the playoffs even with a .500 combined record against CLE/KC.

And to think, one of those election years, didn't Obama win North Carolina or come very close to turning it...2008?

Ynoa's control is about as predictable as Miguel Cleto's...well, maybe not THAT bad. But I wouldn't bet on it being Ynoa. Too inexperienced.

Fwiw, Rick Thurman is his agent.

Well, they have always been anti-Democratic Party, so if you consider the NY Times "fair" to Republicans or Fox News or Forbes fair to Democrats, lol...

FoxSports still reporting that same story...Giants/Angels/White Sox as the three finalists. Wonder what the benefit to the White Sox of "being involved" is if there's no legitimate interest? Is it really going to make a difference to drive up his price a couple of million for the Angels, who realistically only have a 10-15% chance at competing for a wild card spot?

Hawk has his favorites, for sure. I doubt he would have done that for a Gordon Beckham hitting .182 and the team 10 games under .500, but everyone has a right to get caught up in the excitement at least a little bit. It's a season and a needed fresh breeze compared to the past three seasons, and Frazier's been a huge part of changing that clubhouse environment and team "grittiness/grinderishness."

5 over CLE, 6 1/2 over KC, 7 1/2 over DETROIT High water mark for Sox was 6/7/8 after Monday. Cleveland's got a three game series in Minnesota, and we have Tanaka Sunday...so wouldn't be shocked to see the Indians pick up at least one game. Then again, the Twins have to beat SOMEONE this year. Yankees have won 5 of their last 7.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/colum...512-column.html Kind of a fluff piece from Haugh, but worth reading if you're interested in what Sale does to prevent himself from getting injured and strengthen his frame.

Not completely the end of the Spurs' run...but getting close/r. Kudos to OKC for winning the series, especially on the road (twice). Billy Donovan seems to be doing just fine, but obviously that team is all about Durant and Westbrook feeding off each others' strengths. What happened, btw? J4L must have guaranteed the Spurs would win, right? For the sake of the NBA, it would be great to see OKC beat the Warriors and then the Cavaliers and then you'd have the offseason drama about where KD would end up...also willing to bet that the networks were pretty upset not to get a weekend Game 7 in this series, but so it goes. The unpredictability of sports.

This might be nearing the official end of the Tigers' ERA in the ALCD... Had a 5-0 lead at Balt with Pelfrey pitching his first decent game of the year and the bullpen's copied the White Sox fiasco in TX (granted, they're actually using their "best" relievers and still getting rocked). 7-5 Orioles going to the top of the 8th.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ May 12, 2016 -> 12:08 PM) trump's long-time personal butler seems insane, going so far as to call for the US military to assassinate Obama. Seems? Or just being intentionally inflammatory/race-baiting?