caulfield12

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Aug 16, 2016 -> 01:52 PM) Well respected around the league, and not really given a chance to put his stamp on the team. There are now 2 reports in 2 of the last 3 years where Hahn wanted to rebuild only to be shot down by JR and KW. The trades where Hahn has "sold" on, they were pretty damn good trades. Peavy netted Montas (who got Frazier), Wendelken (who got Lawrie), Avi, and Rondon. Santiago got Eaton. Jennings for Rienzo. Almonte for Beckham (then traded for Kahnle, still hate that trade). Duke for Tilson. Overall not bad when we sold high on players Who overpaid Duke based on one flukey year in Milwaukee? Since when is Tilson anything but a 4th/5th outfielder? He missed badly on the Avi assessment, and having Frazier one more year doesn't help much unless they're all in...not to mention having Montas around might have lowered the desperation to foolishly add James Shields and get stuck with his contract. The only one from that list that was good is Eaton. And any positive from Eaton has been wiped out by all of the terrible to bad free agent deals over the last few years, along with the acquisition of James Shields. At best, you could argue that Melky and Robertson might get you a Tier C prospect back...and Frazier's value has slid a bit as well. Those are the three BEST moves! And then there's Abreu, who put up one great, one really good and one negative value season...and who shouldn't be out in the field another game, realistically. If they tried to sell all four of those players in the offseason, the return wouldn't come close to what the Yankees did in June and July with their veterans.

Difficulty getting on the same side/consensus in order to pull off a midseason trade in a timely manner....Hahn doesn't want to tear apart the team he constructed over the last couple of seasons because it will make him look incompetent, essentially.

http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/white-s...b-tim-anderson/ http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/robin-v...but-will-he-be/ Haugh...Ventura shouldn't return but you never know with Jerry

Shaw is the current weak/est spot for Boston. Bogaerts and Pedroia are set in the middle infield, Ramirez at 1b....and they will probably sign Encarnacion to replace Ortiz. So where else would Moncada, a born infielder, play in that lineup?

http://www.businessinsider.com/ruby-tuesda...-harambe-2016-8 Bud Fox/Charlie Sheen character name...pranks Ruby Tuesday's earnings call with question about Harambe's death impacting profits

Rooney Mara rules!

http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/ventura...as-to-be-asked/

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 14, 2016 -> 01:18 AM) Why not? These games are meaningless and we need Sale and Q for next season and we want to lose to get better draft pick. So why not? With Robertson, it wouldn't hurt to give him 7-10 days' rest and give Burdi or Jones some save chances, if that's legitimately the plan for next year. If you sit Q and Sale for that long, it would make it really difficult for either of them to pitch into September and any possible postseason in 2017, not to mention it would be totally unfair to the credibility of the playoff race to just go with AA/AAA ptching the remainder of this season.

Except he only owns like 15% of the team, personally. So that would be roughly $118 million or so (after tax)....not close to a billion.

The problem is that Lawrie has been injury prone his entire career and he's not someone you can reliably count on for a 750ish ops. Saladino's closer to 675, but can he imrove to the 700-725 level? If so, there's no reason to just give the position to Lawrie for one more year only to get nothing in return when he leaves.

Then Lawrie comes back and Saladino goes to the bench....Morneau playing for a contract with another team. They might as well let Saladino catch for as much difference as it will make.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 13, 2016 -> 04:34 PM) You dropped too few names here. The Sox have had a number of unprovens succeed in the closer role. Jenks was called up from AA and closed a world series 3 months later. Reed was called up and 2/3 of the games he pitched in during his rookie year were games he finished. Santos, of course, came almost out of no where to be a closer. Santiago closing was Robin making terrible choices, Thornton closing made sense but he turned out to just not have the mental makeup for it. The ChiSox have created their own out of an unproven guy several times. I would have no issue looking at Burdi as a closer long-term, but if that's the case then calling him up this year or even before April 25 next year is just financially stupid. It would be as responsible as taking $15 million and lighting it on fire. We already did that with Shields' $22 or $27 or whatever it is million remaining...

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Aug 13, 2016 -> 07:16 PM) Exactly what makes Frank Thomas a manager. He played baseball at an exceptional level? Playing the game and being a manager are different skillsets. See Ted Williams or MJ running a front office...

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 13, 2016 -> 04:39 PM) Jesus Christ, the discussion was about a center fielder and you just named a pitcher and a 1b. "OMG how will we find a spot for Glasnow with Cutch in CF? Uh, how about Glasnow pitches and Cutch plays CF? NO!!!!" Meadows is the interesting one. He just made AAA and the Pirates aren't like the White Sox where AAA arrival means they're 2 weeks from the big leagues. Meadows has had some injuries this year so he's not going to have a full year and he still seems to have some work to do at AAA. They could very well think about giving him a slot next April, but only if they have good reason to do so. They won't be desperate to move any of those OFs unless you pay a Sale-like price for them. They're all under control for years at reasonable costs. If Meadows wound up blocked, then they could darn well move one of the current OFs next year at the deadline if they were to fall out of the race or, perhaps, Meadows is a trade headliner next year. Because those are the three primary reasons they made the mysterious trades they did at the deadline...everything was for making a charge in 2017, not dumping former MVPs. In the big picture, they're almost perfectly set up with another run when you can add 2-3 impact rookies per year to their youngish core, with the exception of Cutch.

I would take Thome or Rowand, but they absolutely need to think outside the system...can't say outside the box, because they already hired someone with zero experience. In the end, the Cardinals' talent pool has made Matheny look better than he really is (numerous articles begging for him to be fired), and Ausmus has suffered under comparisons with Leyland's track record and an aging roster. Managers without any experience, just not a sound strategy.

We need to hire Terry Collins next year with all his motivational gifts, lol...and somehow Renteria will be bypassed and so will all the interesting and innovative candidates under age 45. Purgatory.

Albers is still gassed from that double against the Mets that seemed like it could change the season back for the good...but yet another false positive in 2-3 months of them.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 13, 2016 -> 06:32 PM) Conley 2-2 off Shields. At least he didn't allow a homer to the pitcher From three hits all season to five, 67% increase. The defense that inning he gave up the lead wasn't great, but what a trainwreck. The worst part is how long the fans had to wait to get rid of the Danks baggage on the payroll. Then following up with Albers? Embarassing.

Would be furious to find out we could have offloaded Shields and Robertson yet inexplicably held onto both. Insane decisions this year on personnel.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 13, 2016 -> 03:12 PM) None of that is worth the price of a season of team control when he's in his prime. But we can leverage our relievers when they get close to arbitration for the likes of Nestor Molina and Matt Davidson...Nate Jones would have been a good opportunity had he reeled off saves in August and September after getting rid of Robertson. Alas, not to be. At the very least, they would have seen how Nate would respond to being the closer. Sox, when they start the year with unprovens in guys like Santiago and Thornton who are forced into the role out of necessity, it usually doesn't end well for them.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 13, 2016 -> 04:16 PM) The Pirates might darn well think about moving him this offseason since they have another OF coming up soon, but even off an unprecedented down year they won't move him for less than that. You want Cutch you're paying MVP level prices, at least this offseason. Pirates have Glasnow, Bell and Meadows all knocking on the door. The question is how they fit them into the lineup together. Still would be shocked to see McCutcheon traded going into next year...if they were rebuilding, sure, itvwould a CarGo situation or Tulo 100%. His leadership is still very important for that organization, and they're betting one final bounceback year.

Well, even Strop will be a figure of sympathy returning "miraculously" from injury. The other thing the Cubs did was get rid of Castro, Marmol and Soriano...that helped a bit as well. Garza, another highly unlikeable guy, to use a Trumpism. And, for what it's worth, also nice to see good 'ol Edwin Jackson finding a new home in SD.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Aug 13, 2016 -> 03:57 PM) Maddon and Ventura are actually very similar personalities. Their coaching styles are different but they are both very laid back with a dry sense of humor Sure, but Ventura isn't a born salesman, and he's far from Phil Jackson in terms of his motivational energy and positivism. The average Cubs fan could probably cite 10-15 things they like about Maddon. Otoh, the average White Sox fan still feels some amount of sympathy for Ventura, and maybe they know a little bit about his family, but he's pretty closed off about anything off the field. Maddon will riff on just about any topic, and the media machine eats that up. He's Ozzie with a dominant team and no alcoholism or bitterness. Just look at the proliferation of Maddon managerial jerseys...it's probably outselling Sale jerseys in the city of Chicago this year. That's pretty incredible.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Aug 12, 2016 -> 10:59 AM) There was some Netflix documentary I watched that touched on it several years back, but I can't remember the name of it now. The people who own the farmland right on the border of the "no more buildings" line are uber-pissed because their property is only worth a tiny fraction of what it would be because no developers are interested in it. Environmentally, this is great as long as you can still meet your housing stock. I was in Portland recently and checked out home prices out of curiosity. Seemed comparable or maybe a little bit higher than Chicago but definitely cheaper than Seattle or pretty much anywhere in the non-terrible parts of California. edit: it may have been this http://www.lincolninst.edu/subcenters/maki...place/portland/ In googling for that, I also came across this somewhat recent article on Portland's city planning and trying to strike that balance. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/09/realesta...ver-sprawl.html Seems that would be the perfect opportunity for a suburban MLB facility in Portland.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Aug 12, 2016 -> 05:32 PM) Business Insider looking at trumps new favorite thing, graphs on cue cards. Also speaks directly to the home ownership rate discussion. http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trum...wnership-rate-1 Straight out of the H. Ross Perot playbook...but 24 years too late. Two similarly kooky guys, though.