caulfield12

QUOTE (Swingandalongonetoleft @ Oct 31, 2015 -> 10:46 PM) Didn't catch a replay, but the runner crossing in front of Murphy right before the ball got to him had to have played a role in how that play unfolded. I hate when managers throw their closer for anything other than getting 3 outs in the 9th. While the runners put on by Clippard contributed to a precarious situation that probably had the defense on edge more than they usually would be, I wish he would have either kept him in, or gone to someone other than the closer. Ideally, keeping Matz and the relievers that followed him prior to Clippard would have stayed in a littler longer. You've just identified the Achillies' heel of both the Astros and the Mets. Middle relief. Even with Colon and Niese. Robles could have been extended, arguably. He has really good stuff.

QUOTE (Ballz-n-Strikes @ Oct 31, 2015 -> 10:47 PM) No. Bulls***. Mets are stacked with pitchers. There is NOTHING in your posts that show an ounce of support for him being "injured". You don't trust the NY Times or Josh Lewin I guess?

QUOTE (Ballz-n-Strikes @ Oct 31, 2015 -> 10:26 PM) Why make it hard to like you.... Do you realize you do that? Brant Brown hates me as well.

QUOTE (Ballz-n-Strikes @ Oct 31, 2015 -> 10:35 PM) What are you talking about? Matz doesn't have injury problems. I live in NY metro and I have friends who know his family. That kid can take ALL comers. Pulling him before 70 pitches is...STUPID. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/03/sports/b...in-lingers.html http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/gamelog/_/id/33106/steven-matz Look at July 5th on. The max he has ever gone is six. 36 2/3 ip over 7 starts. Then you're not taking into consideration the back issue. And how many starts he missed. And how he was overthrowing because of too much adrenaline and hit a wall.

QUOTE (Flash Tizzle @ Oct 31, 2015 -> 10:28 PM) Oh come on. It changes nothing, really? So we're just going to go about assembling our team with second third tier FA and cast away FA's to compete against a DIVISIONAL opponent, twice in the World Series and likely to win it this season, even after Williams has acknowledged we're in our three year window? Point A to Point B changes when the Royals have more revenue from a World Series run to retain, sign, extend vital playera for their success. Cespedes OR Frazier (not both) is exactly what we've become conditioned to expect. Doing something to make a big splash, or not doing enough due diligence to determine if the player's even going to be a good fit or whether this particular coaching staff can extract the maximum performance from him... The odds are ten times better if you allocated Cespedes' $100 million across 4-6 players like KW did entering 2005...but Hahn has shown no ability to identify the right second and third tier players. Abreu is the only outlier. Signing Tanaka or Shark would have been disasters.

QUOTE (Ballz-n-Strikes @ Oct 31, 2015 -> 10:08 PM) Whatever.... Matz left in, Murphy's play doesn't happen. That's my point. Managers are being ridiculous...pulling starters after 1 or 2 ER.... 5th inning!!!!!!!!! LOL. Clownshoes. Makes me miss Ozzie. He had faith in his pitchers (and D) to go deep. Throughout all these playoffs - I've not seen one manager trust their SPs. Not one. No wonder Ozzie won a WS...he had...what....4 of them throw CGs in '05 along the way? Sure, their top three guys are horses. The problem is that Matz missed a huge chunk of the season (especially second half), back problems, conditioning issues, etc. Then he was throwing ever harder than normal because he was all amped up. You could see he was hitting a wall. Imo the problem was Niese or Colon weren't the greatest options there, either. Niese is just ordinary against lefties, not superhuman. Matz has the better stuff even if you consider all the factors already outlined. And bullpens are so specialized now difficult to compare with a decade ago.

QUOTE (Ballz-n-Strikes @ Oct 31, 2015 -> 10:09 PM) Bingo! Shut up. Leon Bull Durham is the retort to that...

QUOTE (Ballz-n-Strikes @ Oct 31, 2015 -> 09:51 PM) Already down 5-3 by then. Pulling Matz was the FAIL. Should've never done that. The Royals were down 3-2 before Hosmer's ball to Murphy. He makes the play and it's runners on second and third, two outs for Moustakas and the Mets clinging to the lead. They probably would have loaded the bases to face Perez, for the Rhb/Rhp matchup.

As to Cespedes, he's a decent lf/rf, but he has certainly been exposed for those teams potentially considering him for CF. You have to lose some of that premium value as a result. I'm not sure that is an overreaction as much as an obvious observation. And then getting picked off with the tying run coming up next and D'Arnaud the best catcher offensively in the second half, it's pretty pathetic. He's a very talented player, but not always a heady, winning one.

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Oct 31, 2015 -> 09:38 PM) Whether or not the Royals close this out won't affect Hahn's plans at all. Yes, but it sets an even higher bar or standard. From Point A to B is a massive gulf, at least for the moment. You can't make the argument a 500ish team is just going to somehow luck into the playoffs when the Twins and Indians are better positioned with young position player talent and the Tigers will be able to outspend the White Sox to make one final go with their older core. As for subbing Niese, it didn't make much sense because the splits aren't so pronounced where he just mows down lefties. Im sure Collins will argue he was out of gas and not conditioned with only 9 starts and a long layoff and then back problems to go deep into games. And now the Mets will really have to be careful if Familia gets a save situation tmrw.

Craziest stat of the postseason so far. Most runs scored from the 7th inning on. 1. Royals 44 2. Mets 11 Not sure 3-10, but 3rd is probably in single digits. The biggest shock is that it wasn't Addison Reed. Shades of Bill Buckner in reverse with Murphy.

Cespedes has cost himself some of the millions he gained from his strong second half performance in NY. Like with Cueto, there are going to be some hard questions from AL teams about overpaying.

It's fine, except for the fact Frazier is only under control for two more years. So you're back in that pattern of acquiring NL players coming off, let's say questionable....statistical performances in the second half of preceding seasons. More importantly, you absolutely have to know your prospects inside and out because trading Montas, Adams, Hawkins and Johnson isn't something you can do unless you're 100% all in at the other positions. Frazier alone doesn't do anything but deplete our minor leagues. You also have problems or uncertainty at five other positions. Assuming Ramirez and LaRoche return in their roles, you'd have to commit to improving one outfield spot, 2b, catcher, one more veteran starter at the back end of the rotation and your bench. That's just way too much money on the FA market, and you've just traded most of your minor leaguers and you're not dealing Anderson and Fulmer, so you're essentially doubling down on the 2015 disaster. I don't think Hahn is willing to risk his job with that set of moves. Too high risk.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Oct 31, 2015 -> 06:59 PM) Close, but not enough to overturn. Not real smart of Yost to waste a challenge on that. Alex Rios forgot how many outs there were on a fly ball to right. Wilmer Flores appeared to leave third base too soon, but there wasn't irrefutable evidence to call him out. It's not often you see two brain cramps of that magnitude on the same play in a major league game. Jerry Crasnick, ESPN

The biggest issue for the Mets is how long Matz can go on adrenalin. He doesn't have very many innings pitched overall the last couple of months. Normally his fastball is 92-94 and tonight he has consistently been at 94-96. It might just be Matz is the better pitcher and this was never going to be a great matchup for KC. He will throw at least five or six. The way for KC to score will be the third time around or versus Reed, Clippard, etc.

Well, Greg now has his reason to blame Rios for the Royals losing the series now. We saw that enough in 2009 and 2011. Between DeAza, Ramirez and Rios, we've had our share of brain lock moments as well. Flores isn't a fast runner at all. The challenge wasn't bad because they have an extra in the playoffs and then from the 7th inning on it's automatic from the umpires and review umps. Even Josh Lewin in the Mets' booth thought he went a tick or two early. KW might know talent, character and focus are equally if not more important.

The problem is the only president embodying all the qualities you espouse, Jimmy Carter, was arguably our worst going back at least to the 1920's. Carson just doesn't have enough policy expertise to be credible, or for us to believe he wouldn't just hire experts to advise him that espouse some of his identical radical viewpoints. That worked for Reagan, but he at least possessed the basic leadership/charisma qualities required for effectiveness.

QUOTE (High Mileage @ Oct 31, 2015 -> 11:05 AM) I agree. Truth. Yup. How about the Greinke for Cain, Escobar, and Odorizzi? Then putting Odorizzi in that deal for Shields and Davis. Yup. Royals throw high and inside, and their dirty headhunters. Syndergaard does it and he's celebrated. 2 years maybe but 3 is a stretch. Alex Gordon isn't going anywhere. Young won't pitch more than 4 or 5 innings. Which worries me. That's what I was thinking. There's a possibility he stays, but only 10-15%. Surely he will decline the player option at his age (31) and at least test the waters to see what's out there. It would be pretty much unprecedented for a player at that stage of his career to give up a potential $80-110 million dollar guaranteed contract. Not even Jeff Samardzija will consider it at $17-18 million for one year with the QO. Too many chances for an injury. Granted, Gordon missed a good junk of this season, but it's not like there is any mystery exactly what you're getting with him. The Greinke move was a rebuilding one...more talent, perhaps, but Shields/Davis was all in, heads are gonna roll if this backfires.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 31, 2015 -> 01:37 PM) Royals are going to try to sign him. You would think the Royals would be able to come close to those other teams. Alex Gordon would be dumb to take 25 million from the Cubs if the Royals are giving him 20 over 4 years. How much money can you spend?? At some point you have to give the Konerko discount when you are old, like Gordon. If KC wraps up this WS title, Gordon will have Brett/Len Dawson status in this town. That means about 35 years of being an icon and making money off your name once you retire. If he leaves KC he's a fool. ... Now if KC blows this Series it's a different story. Fans will be pissed at the whole team and he should take every red cent the Cubs offer. They also had the A's and Reds pay the money remaining on the Zobrist and Cueto deals and sent more/better prospects. Sure, their attendance gives some leeway but their media rights deal doesn't pay mearly as much...and that's where the big market teams are bringing in hundreds of millions alone before even opening the gates.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Oct 31, 2015 -> 06:57 AM) https://mobile.twitter.com/BBTN/status/660298514958782464 Pretty crazy. To keep it up, the Mets need to win by four tonight, then lose Game 5 by two runs and go back to KC down 3-2 in the series. But Greg last night proclaimed it was guaranteed to go the full seven, so that by itself jinxed the Mets surely.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 31, 2015 -> 12:05 AM) This may sound insensitive, but until Alex Rios plays on a world championship team I might be willing to say I don't think he's capable of that. That throw tonight was laughable. He has been reasonably OK at the plate in the postseason and definitely has not stood out like some total weak link or anything. But like I said ... can Alex Rios play on a WS title team or is his destiny to not have a title cause of his perceived lack of focus/energy?? We shall see. If the Royals lose at this point, starting pitching 10x >>> Alex Rios' individual contributions.

QUOTE (Baron @ Oct 30, 2015 -> 11:06 PM) Also barely above replacement level. So he'll fit right in. This always goes back to player development. Being forced to spend more than you want on Free Agents....Jackson and Fowler and Rasmus and Rios all end up in that $10-15 million second tier range that doesn't even guarantee replacement level production. So you're constantly stuck with contracts you can't get rid of...and which end up blocking playing time for younger players who can actually be a part of the long-term plan.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 30, 2015 -> 10:23 PM) Ventura is an interesting case. I don't know who to compare him to on the Sox or in Sox history. He's been very inconsistent in this his second season. just didn't have it tonight. Mentally he should have been on top of the world. Staked to a 2-0 lead, no pressure on him. He got lit up by the veteran Grandy and Murphy. Boom. KC goes with the Princeton graduate tomorrow, the smart gritty hurler whose stuff isn't near as good as Ventura. Mets have to be considered favorites. He had two one run leads and gave them both up, 1-0 and then 3-2. Matz doesn't throw quite as hard and is a lefty, and southpaws give KC some problems because of Hosmer, Moustakas, Gordon and Morales as a switch hitter being better against RHP. Plus Zobrist now. It will also be a storyline how Volquez responds to his father's death in Game 5. And Cueto will write the final story of his KC career in a theoretical Game 6.

Yeah, basically the teacher didn't have the ability to do it, so he simply called security. I'm sure she put the phone away before the officer arrived but then he felt for whatever reason he had to forcibly remove her from the classroom in the most confrontational way possible to make an example of her and also guards are often keyed up in the first place. Not the best ones who the kids respect and who have a repoire with them outside of the classroom setting. It's not unlike the neighborhood beat cops everyone used to know by name...back in a time when mutual respect was more normal and not the exception to the rule.

I'm just not sure the White Sox are going to be willing to shell out $10+ million for Fowler. Jackson's probably the better buy low candidate, like Rasmus last offseason. Better defender and younger.