caulfield12

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 3, 2015 -> 09:10 AM) KC's roster is about to take a gut punch in free agency. Cueto for sure, good riddance. Zobrist, Madson, Chris Young...those will hurt, along with Greg Holland. They weren't paying a dime for either Cueto or Zobrist, however. Guthrie and Rios will clear more payroll space. Medlen's 50/50 with a $10 million option. However, they're still roughly at a roughly $90 million payroll. Keeping Gordon would put them right back around this year's $111-112 million. My gut says they come in around $124-128 million for next season. Without Gordon, $35 million to spend and Zobrist then becomes Target 1A. They will also get Jason Vargas back sometime next summer. Perhaps they can dump part of Infante's remaining two years, but not easily.

Obama for bench coach. Two lame ducks.

I thought it was $1.6 million per year for two seasons, then club options. Pretty ridiculous not to offer AT LEAST three.

Leading to Soler, Baez and Schwarber as their main trade pieces as usual. Always throwing in some names from the 10-20 list instead of a Torres, McKinney, Edwards, Jimenez, etc. Can Almora can still be marketed like 2 years ago, not so much...pretty much the same as arguing Courtney Hawkins is a potential 35/40 homer bat.

Quintana/Adams for....the steal deal of the century (love those 4-6 for 1-2 plans they come up with) mlbtraderumors Cubs get a solid pitcher in quintana and a potential stud in spencer who has a ways to go before making his MLB debut seeing as he’s only like 19 years old (at LEAST 2 years away…. more likely 3-4). Sox get the young position prospects they DESPERATELY need. They get a better SS in Castro over having to keep worse Alexei Ramirez…. regardless what Sox fans say. Castro’s down year this year is not too far off a typical Ramirez year. They also get a HR masher in Vogelbach who has superb plate discipline to play 1B/DH with Abreu. They get a solid hitting catching prospect in Zagunis. They get a gold glove in waiting in Almora who scouts say could hit about .280 or better and develop into a 20 HR hitter…… especially playing in US Cellular. And I’ll throw in pierce johnson as a toss in. Projects to be a 3-4 starter if he pans out. Cough up 1 ML pitcher and a pitching prospect for 4 players who could address almost all the Sox weaknesses on offense within 2 years. It at least gives you positional prospect hope. Looked at the top position prospects the Sox have listed on their website……. it’s pretty ugly. This hypothetical trade is more than fair imo. http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/10/offs...hite-sox-6.html

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/25361575 First of many articles predicting the offseason. Puig has 7-8 teams listed as trade possibilities and not one of them is the Sox. Btw, signing Granderson two tears ago when his splits were so pronounced and Yankee Stadium short porch aided seemed a bit nuts...felt like he was on a big decline. That said, the current numbers are coming from the relatively weaker NL. Cueto is projected at $40 million and one year less than when he was traded to KC. Royals predicted to keep Gordon but not Zobrist as well.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Nov 2, 2015 -> 11:23 PM) I agree. The champagne celebration should not be done until winning the ALCS and NLCS and again after the WS. Why celebrate just making the playoff wild card game? Dumb. Also the goggles have to go and they should have raincoats available and helmets for all media members. They have a job to do not to have their clothes ruined several times per year. This is reminding me of the Greg's Excellent Suit Buying Adventure.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Nov 2, 2015 -> 12:55 PM) I think caulfield is posting "day drunk" today. It's night time in China. The World Series ended at 1 pm local time. Alas, no drinking, since there aren't any intl schools that allow that. Smoking in front of students, yes, but it's a British school.

The Cubs will likely get one of those pitchers (top five free agent pitchers). Less likely, they might trade one of their good young players (Javier Baez?) in a package for a top starting pitcher. It will be interesting to see if the Chicago White Sox even consider trading Chris Sale, or if the Oakland A's will listen to offers for Sonny Gray. Tim Kurkjian, espn.com

Let's hire another coach with perhaps some volunteer Little League coaching time who won't be construed by anyone as a threat. And then watch him turn down the job when Robin's gone...adding further insult to injury. At any rate, LaRussa has no loyalty to Ventura, but I'm not sure McEwing would even want the job unless he had a real chance to win because you're just going to be sacrificed eventually before Hahn or KW. Might be like AJ Hinch with the DBacks and now Astros, hired to be fired but then the second job is the charm having learned from the first experience. Probably ends up with the AZ job right before LaRussa retires. We can be like an internship/practicum/training.

You guys are living in a fantasy world thinking they will give the position to Saladino or attempt to cut Ramirez's salary. We heard over and over again a list of reasons/excuses for his poor 2015 season. Put up or shut up time. And you can forget about Ian Desmond, too.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Nov 2, 2015 -> 09:37 AM) Chris Bosio, 1993 oh wait i thought we were just naming random players and years Oh, wait....Alexei will have his full option picked up. They won't try to cut it down to the $6-7.5 million range. Just watch. I don't need to mention any names. The White Sox will provide that history lesson and those linkages when they announce he's coming back.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Nov 2, 2015 -> 09:21 AM) Would look great in a Sox uni. Yeah, we might finally have an offense by the final year of his contract...and we'd give up the farm with someone who's already gone through TJ once and just went 36 innings past his original innings cap or limit. Too risky.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Nov 2, 2015 -> 09:13 AM) Lol you're comparing Alexei Ramirez to Paul Konerko and Mark Buerhle? Paul Konerko is a player who got a f***ing STATUE in our ballpark. That is not Alexei Ramirez Mark Buerhle was NOT OFFERED A CONTRACT and went and signed with the Marlins. How is that evidence that the Sox will always bring their stars back? Gordon Beckham was traded for peanuts and then allowed to return on as a utility infielder on a $2m contract. None of that is even remotely close to the same situation we're facing with Alexei. The only thing that binds them together is that they're all related to the White Sox. If Alexei is back, it's going to be because they expect a bounceback from him and don't have a better option. The second Buehrle contract, 2008-2010.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 2, 2015 -> 09:00 AM) lol. NO one gives back when the underperform, we don't owe anything when something overperforms. Andre Dawson, 1987. We actually didn't have to give him a four year extension after 2011. We could have gone to arbitration instead for two years. 4 years and $4.75 million was about the same as Sal Perez's deal for five years and $7 million. All signs indicate the Royals will tear it up soon and reward him with a fairer deal.

The fact that he remained a largely unknown factor despite some recent success in the post-season. He is still the same fb and sl pitcher he was back then...too many sliders, he'll always put one in bad location.

QUOTE (fathom @ Nov 2, 2015 -> 08:55 AM) Going to Reed was fine. He looked good in the NLCS and WS before this Collins didn't watch him in August and September, 2012...

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Nov 2, 2015 -> 08:49 AM) I have zero problem with a pitcher who dominated a game being in the moment and wanting to finish it. This is what they have been programmed with since they were kids. If this happened to be your favorite Toronto pitcher you would of been delighted to see him have a bulldog persona. But it's one of those punk kids you don't like for whatever reason. In the end it's up to Collins to manage the game. The minute he walked the first guy Familia should of been in. The lack of clutch hitting and a porous defense is what cost the mets. As soon as they let Volquez off the hook in the sixth with just one run, everyone pretty much expected it. Not phing for Cespedes there was more idiotic. Along with relying on Reed over Niese or even Colon...guys that can get into a rhythm for 2-3 innings.

Is that how Cubs fans look at this year? Sure, it took KC from post draft 2006 until 2013 to build a winner. Despite all the draft picks, they had limited payrolls and media rights in the bottom 2-3. The Rays, Twins, A's, Pirates and Rockies couldn't get it done from that small market group. The margin of error is smaller. Ten years for the Astros. Roughly the same for the Mets. Even less for the Northsiders. Isn't the point to build a team with a 3-5 year window that provides you a consistent opportunity to at least get an invitation to the dance and at least 2-3 legit chances for a ring? The White Sox have had seven going on eight years and not even sniffing .500 for the moment.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Nov 2, 2015 -> 08:26 AM) Keep Albers, Jones, Robertson, Duke, Petricka. All had an ERA+ of 108 or better. That's a good start. They'll probably bring in Franklin Morales...meanwhile, Jennings will go over to a division rival and go all Neal Cotts/A.Miller. Webb is definitely on the outside looking in. Next, Francellis Montas for the Herrera/Zumaya role. Maybe Tyler Danish's funky delivery puts him there as well, along with Beck. Finally, wouldn't give up on Putnam so quickly. He's more likely to be back than Albers.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Nov 2, 2015 -> 08:22 AM) Dude come on Apparently you missed the deals for Konerko to return for a farewell tour, Buehrle when it looked like a more questionable bet, Contreras after he was no longer dominant, Beckham this year again...an organization that can always be counted on for sentimentality if nothing else. Why are so many clamoring for AJ, Buehrle or even Uribe to return? Because it's not completely out of the realm of possibility.

When the Royals received the scouting report on the Mets before the World Series, it was hard to ignore two lines that were heavily emphasized. “Make [Lucas] Duda throw the ball. Make [Travis] d’Arnaud throw the ball,’’ was presented to every Royals player. Nypost.com

We still owe Alexei for overperforming his original deal (in the eyes of JR). No way he's gone.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/14034906...16-world-series Step 1: pissing off the Royals and giving them another chip on their shoulders, haha. Cueto isn't going to be missed all that much, or Rios, and Guthrie departing will free up quite a bit of money, not to mention Alex Gordon. They'll miss him and especially Zobrist, but no player is irreplaceable for them other than Sal Perez. Oh, and Chris Young's veteran leadership, too. Finally, they'll have to eat quite a bit of money on Omar Infante's deal, but they already have a plan for Year 3 of their four year window. The Twins should be pissed too, tied with us after how last season ended. No guarantee of another World Series, but, barring major injuries, they're back again in the playoffs at least. And, because Greg called it, we will trade Montas or Adams for Christian Colon (aka Andy Gonzalez II), and one of those guys definitely wins the 2017 or 2018 AL Cy Young. Just imagine if they selected Harvey or Sale instead of Christian Colon...and Kershaw, Lincecum or Scherzer over Hochevar (the last Allard Baird draft)? Guess it was meant to be, the #1 symbol of franchise ineptitude ends up arguably the co-MVP of the post-season bullpen after sitting out all of 2015 with TJ surgery.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Nov 2, 2015 -> 12:22 AM) The Royals won the WS and avenged the performance vs. the Giants. So now for next year, if KC was smart, it would just relax and not play like f***ing douchebags in April and May, starting fights, throwing at people, treating every series as Armageddon. If they mop up the lousy Sox, Indians and Twins and split with Detroit they should easily win the division. Again, if they play like the assholes they played like this year, I hope every series results in a fight. That could happen if they continue that ridiculous chip on their shoulder play they had this season. All the celebrating and throwing at people. Sox's only hope of overtaking KC? Major overhaul of bullpen. Fixing 3B, C and adding a real DH for starters. GOOD LUCK WHITE SOX. It sucks not being on top like we were in 05. That chip on their shoulder is a major reason they won. It will be back again as they lose Cueto, Gordon and Zobrist (probably) and get picked for second or third in the AL Central and underrated again by PECOTA and all of the other prediction models out there. They will be more low key than this season, but that confidence bordering on arrogance isn't going away until Cain, Hosmer and Moustakas all move on. It's the main reason that Hosmer just willed the Royals back after another key error at 1b gave the Mets their second tally in the sixth...he scored the tying run when 7-8 times out of ten he would have been thrown out and forever vilified had they gone on to lose Games 6&7. That's the way they play. Putting pressure on the opposition to make a better play. Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-colum...l#storylink=cpy How long will Sox fans be waiting for this column again? Fans will have their own memories, from the ones who believed all along to the ones who will claim they believed all along. They used to bond with something that felt a little too much like Stockholm syndrome, with jokes about the throw home hitting Ken Harvey’s back or Kerry Robinson climbing that wall in Chicago for a ball that bounced in front of him to then-manager Buddy Bell, caught in the middle of another long losing streak, muttering, “I’ll never say it can’t get worse.” ...... Zack Greinke became one of baseball’s best young pitchers in Kansas City, but the losing beat him down, and he demanded to be traded. The Royals tried to trade him to Washington, but Greinke didn’t want that either, so they made a new deal with the Brewers for what they thought at the time was an inferior haul of prospects. Except that haul was highlighted by Cain and Escobar — two foundational pieces for the Royals’ rise, the center fielder and the shortstop, the smiling No. 3 hitter and the unconventional leadoff man. Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-colum...l#storylink=cpy Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-colum...l#storylink=cpy