caulfield12

If any history teacher in the US showed those three flags from the post earlier in this thread, there isn't one student in 10,000 who would pick the first one as having anything to do with the South or Confederacy during the Civil War. They would all think it had something to do with the Revolutionary War/13 Colonies...one of the first version's of Betsy Ross' flag, etc. I dare you to come up with a picture OF ANYONE in the South proudly flying that flag today. Unless you go down there and give it to them by hand, it won't happen. Heck, I'd just like to see pictures with Jefferson Davis speaking and that particular flag somewhere in the background.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jun 22, 2015 -> 09:02 AM) I can't believe EJ's 1 month in bigs is enough to lose status but Micah's was not. It used to be 50 IP for pitchers, 130 AB's for hitters and/or 45+ games on the active roster (besides September, I think). Johnson's just BARELY over, 51 IP. That Jace Fry TJ surgery is also really hurting the lower minors in terms of pitching depth, too...

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Jun 23, 2015 -> 07:33 AM) They will not be forfeiting any draft picks this winter. I'm pretty sure Hahn and staff now realize they are much farther away than originally anticipated. Not only will they likely keep all their draft picks, look for the team to add prospects this summer by dealing guys like: Samardzija, Ramirez, and possibly even Quintana. You are right Lord Chas, they need catcher depth in the system. They also need depth at just about every other position as well. After catcher, I would focus on 3b, SS and OF in the draft. I really hope Samardzija can pitch great up until the deadline. I thought Hahn did a great job trading Peavy at the perfect time for Garcia and Montas in 2013. A similar return package for Shark would be fantastic. They have lots of depth, it's just not quality depth. And therein lies the problem... Just like our "bounty of middle infielders." Kevan Smith, Kottaras, Brantly, Nieto, Austin (Rodon's teammate), etc.

I still haven't seen it explained or even asked of Ventura WHAT HAPPENED to the defense from April - August of 2012? Other than the obvious changes like Viciedo/DeAza in recent years, all of the players have gotten worse. You might be able to say Alexei is just getting older (finally) or LaRoche, but what about Eaton, Flowers, Gillaspie and Abreu? If Avi's better, I'm not seeing it...he has one positive asset, his arm, but it's not offsetting his other defensive flaws according to all the metrics. Conor has poor footwork and that terrible habit of throwing it almost sidearm, which consistently results in poor throws...with more errors over there without Konerko and his scooping ability on low tosses. Our three best middle infield prospects (Semien, Micah Johnson and Tim Anderson) all have defensive issues. Our "plus" defenders in Sanchez, Rondon and Leury can't hit. We also don't have any outfielders who project to both hit and field above replacement player value at the next level....and that's not even addressing catcher and 3B (Trey M., maybe...)

QUOTE (BamaDoc @ Jun 23, 2015 -> 07:40 AM) I watched last night CWS games and started thinking outside the box. I know it wouldn't be done due to egos and the risks/embarrassment of failure but look at Vanderbilt pre Corbin. Vandy was a program with no history and one of the greatest disadvantages in recruiting there could be. Many of you may not realize that most baseball scholarships are fractions of a full ride. At Vandy if you are on a third or half ride you must come up with the rest of the money. That extra is often 20-30k just in tuition. That cost severely limits your player pool. Academic requirements are substantial and most academic scholarships start with needing about 32 on an ACT. Yet he has built a very solid program all while the MLB raids his roster and recruiting class. They play smart aggressive baseball. They develop pitchers and hitters. I would consider hiring someone like that to run my minor league system. I think the minors are much more like college than MLB. You are dealing with developing players and dealing with kids away from home and life problems. I would seriously consider a guy like Corbin and give him a huge say in hiring scouts and instructors. So often scouts and instructors are former MLB players or failed minor leaguers who seem to have little qualifications. There is a place for people who have MLB experience but not in an organizational nepotistic way. Imagine guys developing. Coming up and able to hit behind runners, execute a bunt when called for, knowing how to play defense. Playing smart. I think it's an interesting idea. The problem is going to be you have to completely start over with most of your high level and even upper middle level managers in the system....they're not going to want to work for an outsider, especially one without professional baseball experience (like a Tom House at USC, who's very controversial in his own right). You'd have to get COMPLETE buy-in from players/coaches/staff, so you can't half-ass it and have a situation like Ozzie/KW or even KW/Hahn or Corbin/Bell where mixed messages are getting sent out and nobody is clear as far as who they are to follow and why. Don't disagree at all in principal guys like Bell SHOULD be gone, based on the results or lack thereof....I can just imagine those initial meetings being not too far off what you saw portrayed onscreen in Moneyball with Billy Beane/Jonah Hill against the "old school scouting guard" as represented by Grady Fuson. Nick Capra would probably leave, too.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jun 23, 2015 -> 07:35 AM) The fact that debate exists as to whether it's racist or not shows it's simply what you choose to believe. http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/ju...ate-flag-debate You realize that the KKK -- for MANY years -- flew the US flag (stars/stripes) as they're symbol, too...right? So does that make the US flag racist? The answer to that is much the same. For some, YES, it is a racist symbol. For others, NO, it's not. So what's the difference between Germany today flying a 1930's Nazi flag today and the US Capitol flying a Confederate flag? Both are elements of the history of those countries...6 million Jews were wiped out by the Nazis, whereas it was "only" thousands of blacks who were lynched in those states with the Stars & Bars as elements of their state flags or state emblems...? Basically, only if the South had actually won the Civil War, enacted a nationalized policy of killing all black people....and then later they "lost" the country again could we say it would be unacceptable to have the Confederate Flag flying over the Capitol or state houses today? What about the policy of the South during the war of executing all former slaves who took up arms against the Confederacy, along with their white commanding officers?

For those who haven’t been following this issue, in 2012 the Supreme Court gave individual states the option, if they so chose, of blocking the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of Medicaid, a key part of the plan to provide health insurance to lower-income Americans. But why would any state choose to exercise that option? After all, states were being offered a federally-funded program that would provide major benefits to millions of their citizens, pour billions into their economies, and help support their health-care providers. Who would turn down such an offer? The answer is, 22 states at this point, although some may eventually change their minds. And what do these states have in common? Mainly, a history of slaveholding: Only one former member of the Confederacy has expanded Medicaid, and while a few Northern states are also part of the movement, more than 80 percent of the population in Medicaid-refusing America lives in states that practiced slavery before the Civil War. And it’s not just health reform: a history of slavery is a strong predictor of everything from gun control (or rather its absence), to low minimum wages and hostility to unions, to tax policy. So will it always be thus? Is America doomed to live forever politically in the shadow of slavery? http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/22/opinion/...c=recg&_r=0 If you take the time to click on the map of the 22 states, you see virtually the entire Confederacy, Missouri (border state), Wisconsin (Scott Walker explains that one)...Maine is another outlier. Arkansas is the only state EXPANDING coverage. Also, KY and West Virginia, basically border states.

QUOTE (Brian @ Jun 23, 2015 -> 06:08 AM) It's a Lifetime movie. They're all bad. The pregnant girl was crazy hot but it was very dull and slow. One of the more boring HBO shows I tried to watch. I know others that liked it though. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2057726/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t4 Jessica Lowndes.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Jun 23, 2015 -> 06:29 AM) Why? It's a better product, there are more teams in the tournament, and you know a lot of the players from domestic leagues. As for the US game last night, they looked terrible. China is better than Colombia so they're going to have to play much more assertively or they could be in trouble. Especially without Rapinoe...she was about the only sign of life in the first half. That said, the Chinese team isn't nearly as fearsome as they used to be 15-20 years ago, although they are back on the upswing again.

7. Hector Olivera and the rest of the Cuban imports who sign what seem like huge-money deals often do end up monstrous bargains. If the cost of a marginal win really is around $7.5 million, Yoenis Cespedes could produce the entire value of his $36 million deal this year alone. According to FanGraphs' calculations, Yasiel Puig last season provided $40.5 million in value. He signed for seven years and $42 million. Getting major league-ready players for mid-level salaries is an absolute coup, and Olivera could be the latest. He's massacring Triple-A pitching, with a pair of four-hit games, the latest of which came Friday and included a triple and a home run. Considering Justin Turner is thriving in everyday duty – he's up to .333/.401/.579 – there isn't exactly an open spot for Olivera at the moment. Soon enough, though, he'll hit his way into the major leagues, and the Dodgers will have a problem about which complaints will be met with a tiny fiddle. After a few down years, third base is finally back with a vengeance, maybe the deepest position in baseball. Olivera will join Frazier, Josh Donaldson, Kris Bryant, Nolan Arenado, Evan Longoria, Kyle Seager, Matt Carpenter, Mike Moustakas, Adrian Beltre and … 8. Manny Machado http://sports.yahoo.com/news/10-degrees--t...-043408970.html

Chris Sale is one of the great bargains in baseball, under contract for another 4 ½ years at $52.8 million, with the last two seasons club options with small buyouts in case of injury. The idea of trading Sale is certainly tempting, especially with the White Sox's season barreling in the wrong direction – their minus-68 run differential is worst in the AL and better than only Philadelphia and Milwaukee – but wouldn't necessarily net as much as he's worth. The potential surplus value on Sale's contract is so high that receiving commensurate value in a trade is almost impossible. What would the cost be for a pitcher who does what Clayton Kershaw or Felix Hernandez does at about a third the price? An organization's top four prospects? Five? More? It's so much that nearly every organization in baseball would balk at giving up so much talent for just one player, no matter how great. White Sox GM Rick Hahn is creative and will entertain all possibilities, and executive say they plan on at least spitballing before the trade deadline. Sale is about as likely to go somewhere else as … http://sports.yahoo.com/news/10-degrees--t...-043408970.html

Is Treme worth watching?

QUOTE (flavum @ Jun 17, 2015 -> 11:19 AM) Admit it....you will watch a Lifetime Movie starring Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig. I've read where Ferrell is just terrible in that...where you can't tell if he's playing it as a joke or he's so bad trying to be somewhat serious that it comes off completely disjointed compared to Wiig's typical solid performance in that type of role.

With the Women's team, it's "been there, done that." We expect them to finish first, runner-up...at least in the top four. There aren't any flamboyant personalities on the team, other than Soto. They're in a bit of a transition mode, with Wambach's star finally fading. For the casual male, they might watch Morgan or Hope Solo just for aesthetic reasons, but that won't keep them interested in a match with China on Friday night. Back in the day, you had Mia Hamm, Lilly, Julie Foudy, Chastain, etc. It's kind of like with Cubs' fans...we're still waiting for that breakthrough/transcendent moment where the American Pele/Beckham arrives on the scene, we win the World Cups and kids all over the country starting choosing soccer over the big 3 sports in high school.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jun 22, 2015 -> 09:05 PM) Not necessarily a good thing with the injury history of McCarthy. The only knock on Fullmer is the high effort to the delivery. I always thought one of the knocks on McCarthy (originally) was coming almost completely over the top...that it was going to lead to shoulder problems and force him to adjust his delivery. It also led to his fastball not having much movement, although the 12-6 curveball was nasty.

Although it would be hilarious if Yost picked Robin Ventura...to show support for the embattled Robin.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Jun 22, 2015 -> 09:37 PM) I guess you measure starters by how many losses they have. .84 WHIP, 12+Ks/9 is an excellent year. I can't remember the specific circumstances of all four blown saves....there was at least one that had some defensive lapses behind him and one where there was a wild pitch that could easily have been blocked (would still have been a blown save but maybe not a loss)...this is one of those cases where the results look worse than the performance. With Addison Reed, for much of 2012 until the very end, the results (saves converted) were better than the peripherals. Of course, when you're paid among the game's elite, even advanced metrics analysts realize the save conversion rate is the first thing they're going to look at when there's an arbitration hearing for a closer. Abreu and Robertson are completely out of the conversation at this point... Pujols might get a look because of his iconic status and offensive resurgence this season. Cabrera should be the starter, with Hosmer or Teixeira the back-up. Abreu's probably 4th. The NL is the real battle, with Goldschmidt, Rizzo, Votto, A-Gonz, Freddie Freeman and Lucas Duda...the first five, in particular.

Just what we need, another ex-Cub for marketing purposes...it does seem there's no in between with these trades, either they turn out like Garland/Karchner or Sosa/Bell. As far as trading Quintana, the Nationals do make some sense...but if Giolito's going to be as good as everyone projects, I think they'd prefer to add back-end rotation pieces and improve the offense, and wait it out 1 or 1 1/2 years for his eventual arrival. It would be an interesting trade for both teams, though. It's not like the one where the DBacks just kind of gave up Bauer for less than value...I still think we'd be better off going after arms who are on the outs with their organizations (think Bobby Jenks) rather than buying them at peak value.

http://www.christianpost.com/news/bible-sa...a-pastor-99583/ Bible says gays should be be executed, according to Arizona pastor

I remember him mostly coming up with the Brewers, but he has a lot of connections with the Rangers and Mets from his brief stays there as well.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Jun 23, 2015 -> 12:48 AM) And the 2010 team didn't make the playoffs. And in 2011, they had the 23rd pick, and forfeited it to sign Adam Dunn. Had that 2010 team gone just 14-16 over that stretch, they would have had the 10 pick in the draft (protected pick, which means they keep it when they sign Dunn), and could have chosen from the likes of George Springer, Jose Fernandez, and Sonny Gray, all who were in that range. So thanks for helping prove my point. If they aren't going to make the playoffs, I want the best draft pick possible to be able to avoid situations like 2010 where instead of potentially having one of the best young players in baseball, they give up a pick for a free agent like Adam Dunn. Even assuming they would have messed up Springer, those are two impressive arms that would have definitely been on the radar screen. And god knows, the difference between 83, 73 and 63 win White Sox teams in the attendance standings isn't much at all. I swear, the main reason they drew so well this past Sunday was "Selfie Sunday," the popularity of that trend (with Sale and Samardzija among the five), because it certainly wasn't their play during the losing streak that attracted fans, or optimism based on a single win after an 8 game losing streak.

Santos is someone else who went from position player and pretty quickly ended up getting injured, although not quite so fast as Hickman apparently.

QUOTE (WilliamTell @ Jun 22, 2015 -> 09:22 PM) Ahhh he was so bad. I remember Hawk defending him all the time too. I coach 9 and 10 year old girls softball and I enjoy telling the same few girls every game where left and right field is more than I enjoy watching this garbage tonight. So stupid. So uninspired. So unnecessary. The Sox love giving runs to the Twins while taking away runs for themselves. That has been the case since 2001, and, before that, the late 80's, early 90's. I miss Paciorek saying Tom Kelly's "working himself up into a lather." Or Hawk going on and on about Brad Radke, Johan Santana, Corey Koskie, Christian Guzman, Doug Mientkiewicz, Luis Rivas and how good they were defensively....and all those outfielders and random players like Lew Ford or Denny Hocking or Matt Lecroy or Albert Blanco who would constantly burn us. If it wasn't that, it was Hunter robbing homers in CF or running over Jamie Burke. Oh, and Carlos Gomez, haha.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Jun 22, 2015 -> 09:19 PM) Folks, we have officially reached the "they're so bad it's good" phase of the season. With the exception of Abreu, Sale and Avi, I really don't care for any of these players so whatever happens happens. I don't hate the others but let's just say if I were 10 years old and opened a pack of Topps I'd toss their card aside. As it is now, I chuckle when Flowers whiffs or let's a ball get by his fat ass. I still like Danks because he seems like a really good guy but a really bad pitcher. And I still don't think Robin Ventura is a bad coach. He might be good, he might be bad, but when you give him this s*** box and tell him to make it sing, what's he supposed to do? Quintana has pitched in so much bad luck/defensive breakdowns/lack of run support for SO long, he's forgotten how to be elite like he when he first came up in 2012 and for much of 2013 and 2014. And, whether we like it or not, we're kind of stuck with Eaton out there as well... Finally, Robertson, when his cutter's on like the first 6-7 weeks of the season, he's a lot of fun to watch as well. I'm hoping this recent slide is more of an indication of overuse than a Jonathan Papelbon-esque decline into Albatross Contract status.

QUOTE (BigEdWalsh @ Jun 22, 2015 -> 09:17 PM) I do hate John Danks. Probably not since Danny Wright have I wanted a White Sox pitcher to be gone. Sadly, both had the talent/ability to be much frontline starters but injuries derailed their careers, especially Wright's. Once he lost his stuff, he couldn't adjust. Danks is more reminiscent of Jim Parque against Mike Cameron than 2008 Blackout Game Danks.