caulfield12

QUOTE (SouthSideSale @ Oct 22, 2015 -> 06:51 PM) I would like to see Robin with some legit talent. All of the players we brought in last year via FA and Shark were definitely paid or expected to be legit talent. Even Bonifacio was paid like it, for his utility role. Unless they're willing to trade away significant pieces, legit talent costs $75 million and up in the FA market. Or you're looking at guys like Daniel Murphy, Dexter Fowler, Parra, Pearce and Austin Jackson who may or may not (more likely) be justified in their artificially inflated "leading second tier" prices. If we signed two of those five guys, would anyone argue we had brought "legit talent" into the organization? Probably not. They would be saying we're just "being cheap" and actually increasing our downside risk by overpaying for 2nd/3rd tier talent that won't even get the team much more than 78-82 wins if everything breaks right.

Heck, Curtis Granderson was someone nearly everyone wrote off and now he's four games away from a World Series title. Plus, you have the whole Chicago connection. It's just a matter of finding the RIGHT veterans. San Diego brought in Shields, Upton and Kemp and it was a total disaster. Just throwing money at an Upton or Cespedes without knowing exactly what you're getting, their attitude/effect on the various teams they have played for, there are so many intangibles. (Yet all three of those guys have had post-season experience, unlike, say, Adam Dunn.) For example, David Robertson was a guy who almost had a pristine image, and overall it seemed his time with the NY Yankees and the expectations that brings with it...are net positives, but as a closer with a limited impact on the action, you don't have the overall opportunity to "lead" a team like a position player (Sal Perez/Alex Gordon) or starting pitcher (James Shields). There's definitely more certainty about Gordon, Heyward and Zobrist in terms of predicting exactly what you're getting...than maybe Upton, at least in my mind. That said, it would be shocking if the White Sox THIS offseason were offering any contracts over $75 million, let alone $100 million.

At least there wasn't the usual bromide about getting car-jacked or jumped in the "war zone"-ish South Side. The funniest part of this whole thing is that there are pretty good number of posters at SoxTalk who know the Cubs better in and out (both majors and minors) compared to the 80% of fans who kind of just discovered the Cubs and jumped on the bandwagon over the last 3 months or so when it became apparent they had a good shot at the playoffs again.

Might not want to include this in the season ticket renewals package...

In the end, the White Sox will be afraid to trade Sale due to a potential fan revolt at the return (see David Priceto TB with 1 1/2 years remaining) so that will never happen under Hahn or Williams. A new GM, maybe? I will bet a house that he isn't dealt, and certainly not to the Cubs. The White Sox will make the "safer," more conservative play of trading Quintana and the fans will still be expecting a lot more than they ultimately receive. The White Sox under KW almost never have traded either a starter or position player at peak value. Relievers like Reed and Santos, yes, but the return on Reed was laughable. Hector Santiago was barely a fifth starter to many, so it's difficult to call him a core member of the starting staff in retrospect just because he's done pretty well in LA. So trading Eaton or Abreu are equally unlikely. KW just doesn't roll that way.

1. The Royals have expressed interest in signing outfielder Melky Cabrera, but remain wary of his current contract demands, according to people familiar with the situation. Another team has emerged as the leading candidate for Cabrera’s services this week: the Seattle Mariners. Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-colum...l#storylink=cpy Toronto initially was showing interest in resigning outfielder Melky Cabrera, but with the Blue Jays acquiring Michael Saunders from the Mariners on Wednesday night, Cabrera returning is not likely. Cabrera, according to CBS Sports' Jon Heyman, is seeking a five-year deal, and a reunion with the San Francisco Giants remains possible. Mlbdailydish.com Heyman, the KC Star's Andy McCullough and a twitter guy named Hunter Daniels have mentions or rumors of it, but it's likely the average dollars per year over four years were significantly lower than the White Sox offer, as they knew Rios and Tomas were also big risks on three to five year deals. Hence, the flexibility of only one year to Rios with an escape option which they will surely exercise to reboot and start over with Gordon also potentially leaving. They were trying to "steal" him based on his erratic performance over the last 2-3 seasons rather than pay him top dollar. Obviously, the White Sox were willing to pay a lot more on average. Knowing KC, they were only willing him $40-46 million for 4 years. Nice try, though.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Oct 22, 2015 -> 08:34 AM) Sale and Sirotka in the same breath. Now Ive seen it all. What did we get for Santos, Jenks, Humber, Crain, Floyd and Danks? Oh, that's right, pretty much nothing.

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Oct 22, 2015 -> 08:30 AM) The Cubs didn't win all those games because of Soler and Baez. Soler was replacement level, and even Schwarber only came up halfway through the year and was pretty bad the last two months of the season. So naturally we can get Rizzo, Bryant and Russell because Chris Sale is the greatest pitcher since Koufax and Randy Johnson, except when he's facing the Twins. That would still probably be an underpay by the Cubs because of the bargain contract.

QUOTE (Pants Rowland @ Oct 22, 2015 -> 08:21 AM) You talk so much. Gee, maybe the website should be called Sox Silence.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Oct 22, 2015 -> 08:11 AM) Because it is. You somehow seem to fail to understand Sale's worth in your eagerness to list out all of the cubs minor leaguers that you know and here is your original quote, since you seem to be re-imagining it Basically you are saying "The Cubs dont need to give their top prospects to the Sox for a top 3 pitcher in the game. They just need to give a position-less DH, a outfielder that is constantly injured and cant play in the cold, and a infielder that might strike out more than adam dunn but he will hit some homeruns. Oh, these guys MIGHT hit 30-40 homeruns" And he might get hurt next season, like Mike Sirotka or any number of top pitching prospects that came through the system from 1999-2002. First, we actually need a DH since we don't have one for 2017-2019. I can't imagine what Cubs' fans would say about Avi if that's your overall assessment of Soler. It's amazing the Cubs even won 80 games. Finally, Adam Eaton can't steal bases, listen to coaches, he pisses off all the veteran players in the clubhouse, he never throws to the correct base and always overestimates his arm, he only looked passable in CF this season because the corners were even more atrocious and his penchant for swinging for the fences from the leadoff spot won't be quite so helpful in the future when he's sacrificing contact and infield hits for power numbers. We can find flaws in every player if we so choose. Why would the Cubs want him when he didn't show up with the right mindset at the beginning of the season?

And yet you fail to understand the White Sox are never going to approach being an average offense without adding 2-3 position players for a starting pitcher. We have just struggled through three wasted, nearly unwatchable seasons. 2016 will be another. The White Sox won't sign Gordon, Heyward, Cespedes, Zobrist, Upton, Wieters or Chris Davis. I guess we can return to this conversation at midseason in 2017, assuming Chris is still 100% healthy.

How does either Rizzzo or Matt Williams still have a job?

Six worse among qualified starters for WAR. Danks is one of them, of course. Now we get a lecture about the 92 pitchers who sucked even more but didn't qualify.

If they're gonna sign Heyward, they should move the outfield walls back to the old dimensions so we actually get more benefit from his defensive ability. Odds of it actually happening? One in 250-300.

Gee, surely we can get Bryant, Russell, Baez and Schwarber...let's do that instead. Theo's an idiot. He actually wants to put Castro back at SS with Alcantara and LaStella at 2b. Better yet, they'll also take Alexei, Beck and Avi for Soler. That's three for one baby! How could they possibly turn it down? We can even throw in Davidson and Saladino. That's a five for one bargain! It only took four to get Shark.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Oct 22, 2015 -> 07:40 AM) Ok, you did say Schwarber, but I don't see anything about Russell. So Schwarber, Baez, and Castro for Sale... still a hard pass for the Sox. No no no. It was Schwarber, Baez and Soler originally. Kyle then said that would be the worst trade in Sox history basically.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Oct 22, 2015 -> 07:36 AM) No, he said you'd have to substitute Castro for one of them, remember? So Baez and Castro for Sale. That's if if if they agreed to give up Russell and Schwarber...which won't happen anyway. That would be a salary dump, basically. There's no way they want either Castro or Baez at SS.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Oct 22, 2015 -> 07:26 AM) Caulfield is trading Baez and Soler straight up for Sale, they will be fine Where did I say that? Jesus. I said Schwarber, Baez and Soler. Just to pacify you, it was amended to Russell, Schwarber and Baez/Soler. As soon as we ask for Russell instead, that will be the end of the discussion. And yet quite a few want to trade for 3-4 completely unproven minor leaguers from the Red Sox system that they've never even seen play...and Moncada isn't even one of them.

Why is it that we have so many players that are either uncoachable or have been ruined by Parent? KW used to perform due diligence on a player and his background before adding him to the roster. Doesn't matter, how many times has Bernstein been right so early or actually broken a Sox story first?

Unless the White Sox are that disappointed in him...which should make us question their talent judgment even more. Well, nothing should be surprising. We'll probably trade him for Schwarber.

It's almost to the point where you dare not start Cueto on the road in the post-season. If he pitches Saturday and the Royals somehow win, he wouldn't go Wed on three day's rest. That would put him in Game 3 in NY....which is a difficult place for KC to be in if they were down 0-2 and had Cueto on the mound after what happened in Pitt and Tor. Plus the cold weather. Every KC fan will pray for a Game 6 clincher...so that Volquez and Cueto can start in KC. Although if Ventura looks great for once this postseason tmrw, they could start him on regular rest in Game 2. But then you'd have Cueto starting on the road with way too much time off in between starts. Things have suddenly gotten quite scary for KC. Cueto will go back to the NL....anything over $22-22.5 million per year after this latest travesty would shock me, since eliminating the AL option will wipe out half his potential bidders and artificially limit demand, at least somewhat.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-leag...-051931204.html Cubs end their season on a classy note...of course, it wouldn't have gotten a mention had the White Sox done the exact same thing

Abruptly, Game 6 on Friday at Kauffman Stadium looms about as large for the Royals as the Blue Jays, even with Kansas City holding a 3-2 lead in the series. Think not? Then ponder the chants of Toronto fans as they left: “We want Cueto,” they yelled, referring, of course, to volatile Royals starter Johnny Cueto, the presumptive Game 7 starter should that game prove necessary. There’s no way to know if it will come to that distressing proposition for the Royals, who by now must be as wearied by as worried about their supposed rent-an-ace. His unreliable performances now have been attributed to everything from Sal Perez’s glove placement to the mound height at Rogers Centre to the possibility signs were being stolen via hotel rooms in center field. Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-colum...l#storylink=cpy They brought in Herrera pretty quickly. The problem was all that at-bats that inning were SUPER close to being outs but the strike zone tightened. Volquez was throwing 98 MPH at the beginning of the game. And had pitched great coming into that 6th inning. I think this is too much post-game nitpicking. But it's amazing that Royals' fans have already increased their expectations to the point where just getting to the World Series again is a disappointment. White Sox fans have become conditioned to expect not to even get to .500 and be satisfied enough not to complain too much.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 21, 2015 -> 11:14 PM) Yes but I'm surprised you guys really don't care about the fact this is a small town and at 1 a.m. on a side street nobody is out on the roads and there's no danger of me going slowly thru the stop sign. Also the fact it was the last day of the month and that's kinda fishy needing to raise money for the city. The old rumor that more tickets are issued at the end of the month. I bet in big cities you pull over a guy at 1 a.m. for rolling a stop sign ... I bet a lot of people smart off to the cops and get maced. I could picture some New Yawkers and Chicago South Siders smarting off to cops for actually ticketing them for such a ridiculous violation. Just my take. The teens, 20 and 30 somethings in the northern part of the city, maybe the NW Suburbs, I'm willing to make a large bet that they're the ones more frequently mouthing off to the cops. South Siders aren't stupid enough after seeing everything in Chicago from the 60's through the early to mid 90's to needlessly engage in a confrontation. You take your chances on the mood of the officer. One time I was stopped for speeding in Oklahoma City (with an Iowa plate) because I was on my way to my grandfather's funeral...and the police officer noticed I had very short "buzzcut" hair and asked if I was in the military. To which I didn't respond directly, I simply said I was unfamiliar with the streets/speed zones and on the way to a funeral. I didn't say "No, sir!" Maybe I allowed him to believe (his own preconceived notion or perception) that I was or had been in the military, but I didn't lie, either. I guess in my mind I thought if I was honest/truthful about never having served, I would get popped for a ticket, so I tried to change the subject. 50/50, every one of these situations can always go either way. For all you know, a pedestrian or motorcyclist or a family friend of the cop could have been involved in an accident that involved a motorist not stopping 100% at a stop sign. Maybe someone almost came to a , didn't, and then it caused another driver to hesitate going through and then that car got hit from behind. You just have no way of knowing. Maybe it's his pet peeve or personal crusade, like DUI arrests/checkpoints.

QUOTE (Middle Buffalo @ Oct 21, 2015 -> 11:22 PM) July 31, the Mets were 53-50. They added Cespedes and took off. Toronto was 53-51. They added Price & Tulo. Texas was 50-52. They added Hamels. The Sox were 49-52. They did not add, but it's not inconceivable that Sale would remain dominant, Q would run into some luck and get some wins, and Shark would have a strong second half. If LaRoche, Melky and a few others play to their lifetime averages (which means getting hot for a few months), the Sox aren't as far out of it as they ended up. Going forward, you have to hope Rodon continues to improve, and maybe Fulmer shows up and is as good as 2015 Rodon. That would put the Sox staff on par with the Mets. If they can add a few dynamic bats, who knows, maybe the Sox make a run next year. Baseball, like football and hockey, seems to be about getting hot toward the end of the season and making a playoff run. Other than David Wright (who wasn't a huge factor this season) and Cespedes, you don't have a lot of All-Star talent on that offense. It's a bit similar to the Giants' strategy the past 5-7 years. You have to have ENOUGH offense, though, like the 2005 White Sox. Not even Top Half of the AL, but certainly not bottom quartile. It's worth noting they (the White Sox) could have added the likes of Cespedes, Uribe, Kelly Johnson and Murphy had they actually had the will to compete in the second half, but it would have required trading valuable minor league pieces. It's not like Granderson, Duda, D'Arnaud, Lagares, Flores/Tejada, Cuddyer, etc., are world beaters, but they're solid and most of those guys are at least decent defenders, with the exception of Murphy. Cespedes with his arm is average or a bit above... Looking through their roster, at Plawecki, Eric Campbell, Lagares...they were pretty brutal offensively, but that's a minority of the roster. Most importantly, the Mets had both depth and the ability to make trades to supplement their holes. The White Sox had only two 100+ OPS+ guys among their regulars in Eaton and Abreu. 157 Cespedes 132 Duda and Conforto (platoon guy) 129 Granderson 128 Wright and D'Arnaud 113 BAMiel Murphy 102 Juan Uribe 99 Kelly Johnson 95 Flores/Cuddyer 94 Tejada That's EIGHT over 100 and FOUR more within the margin of error of being positive offensive contributors. Even Nieuwenhuis was at 90, so 13 competent offensive threats during the course of the year.