caulfield12

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Oct 19, 2015 -> 07:22 PM) The Royals are 6-3 in their last 9 home playoff games. That's a LITTLE bit misleading simply because no team in baseball was going to beat Bumgarner the way he was pitching last post-season. One thing's for sure, I wouldn't dream of taking Cueto and I'd hesitate on David Price (now 0-7 in 7 post-season starts) if I was the GM of an AL team. It would be Greinke and Zimmermann, with the focus on Jordan because of relative affordability. Price, to me, isn't worth $200 million, not at this stage in his career. Maybe if the contract was awarded 4 seasons ago, it would be somewhat justifiable. Around age 30, forget it. The Cubs will eventually regret the Lester and (potential) Arrieta deals as well. Cueto, little bit of PR advice, probably not the best time to laugh and smile at the crowd when you walk off down 7-2 in the third #BlueJays He's about as popular now with KC fans as Alex Rios, Dunn and LaRoche in Chicago. He did at least put them in the ALCS, so there's that one accomplishment to fall back on. But if he ends up losing Game 7 at home when they were up 2-0, he'd be advised to take the red eye back to the Dominican before the local media can corner him.

Well, now it's a series at least...some drama/excitement. Strange that the Blue Jays weren't prepared 100% going into both series (Rangers in ALDS) but seem to have the ability to catch fire at a moment's notice and put their foot on the gas. One thing is for sure, even if they sweep three games in a row, and that's certainly possible...it's not going to be easy to win at KC, either. Not like the Metrodome in 1987/1991, but close. Of course, Royals' fans will be ultra nervous again the next time Cueto starts a game. They thought he was over the hump finally and now he laid another huge egg and is back to a semi-goat again.

Back and forth game so far. 3 two-out runs scored for the Blue Jays, KC fights back and has an opportunity to take the lead in the top of the 3rd. Will be interesting to see how long they stick with Stroman in an absolute must-win game for TOR, and who they bring in...also being cognizant you need a semblance of a bullpen the next two games as well.

Greg's also right there is a huge sense of insecurity from the real middle class...inability to save or lacking the discipline or methodology to invest, lack of confidence in the future, flat wages but luckily inflation hasn't kicked in yet. Largely living paycheck to paycheck with a mortgage possibly underwater and lots of credit card or student loan debt. Corporations are making tons of profit, but still largely sitting on them while hoping for a GOP president to come along and provide them even more advantages and loopholes.

Abreu and Tanaka or even Shark (if that long-term deal was actually offered) aren't comparable to spending on a Viciedo, Puig or Soler...younger guys who are mostly projections. Cespedes is the closest comp in terms of being a veteran guy close to his prime. We have Adolfo, but that's still a lottery ticket, moreso than Semien's comp pick even....

Rios isn't a big deal because they can use Gore, Orlando and Dyson. Duffy is also more erratic...they think they can muddle through a Young start, he is a huge change in approach/speed/delivery from Cueto/Volquez/Ventura, and Duffy as a lefty would be pitching into the teeth of a righty dominant lineup for the most part. Going with Guthrie or Medlen wouldn't have shocked anyone...after how much they trusted Guthrie last year in the postseason, but not the same pitcher this year by a longshot. Cubs' fans feel they are forfeiting Hammel and Hendricks starts as well. Not every rotation has four great starters.

The irony is that there's a security flight to US Treasury notes...many more Americans are confident enough in their own country's solvency they're willing to accept a measly 2% rate of return. Ironically, everyone thought China dumping USD would give them a financial stranglehold over us. That said, bonds and T bills won't finance your retirement unless 60-75% is invested growth oriented equities, assuming you're under 50 and have a longer time horizon. And very few are projecting another doubling of the market the next seven year cycle. It might be like 1998-2009 and be essentially a lost decade of overall stock market growth, where we took three huge hits over that time period.

QUOTE (bmags @ Oct 19, 2015 -> 01:43 PM) What about this postseason has supported the thesis that home run hitting teams are worse? The Royals weren't much ahead of the Sox in homers....and they don't walk much, but they run, field, make consistent contact to manufacture runs and then have that historic bullpen to close out 1-2 run leads. Plus the current White Sox can only dream of a bottom 7-8 of Perez and Gordon. Rios hitting in the middle of our order instead of 9th, that's far easier for us to imagine. They can also string together a rally with 4-6 consecutive hits. They've done thst twice in the past week...and also came back from an early 4-1 deficit in another game they won in the Astros series.

https://www.yahoo.com/politics/cia-shrugs-o...9243022390.html Uh oh...CIA not convinced by Benghazi email investigation that top secret national security that would put lives at risk was breached.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Oct 19, 2015 -> 09:13 AM) The reason I said this is because you included Rizzo, who has been a Major Leaguer for 5 seasons. Fair enough, he's only 26 and has essentially played four full seasons...not sure the Cubs trade any of their top 4 for him straight up. Schwarber would be an interesting decision (for Abreu) though....obviously they don't need a 1b with Rizzo. Cheaper/younger/LH and more remaining years of control and can passably play outfield and catch versus 1b/DH. But very few have done what Abreu accomplished his first two years.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Oct 19, 2015 -> 07:29 AM) Yeah, Jose Abreu is no Gleyber Torres! Last time I checked he wasn't closer to age 25 or under...I should have said rookies or guys with 250 or less career at-bats or whatever. Not sure exactly where Eaton would fall. Obviously higher than Anderson, but above Soler? Maybe. Maybe not. I suppose with Fowler leaving and the chance to play both Bryant and Schwarber on either side of Eaton, he would have surplus value at CF rather than a corner. Only Theo knows how high their regard for him remains after this season and his playoff run.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 18, 2015 -> 11:14 PM) OK ... on a lighter note, SNL opened with a political skit again on the democratic debate. They got it right in getting the guy from Curb Your Enthusiasm, Larry David, to play Bernie Sanders. Unfortunately he wasn't funny. Bad writing. Alec Baldwin was the closest to being funny and he wasn't. The only chuckle came again from the great Kate McKinnon who usually has at least one funny Hillary line. Her material wasn't really that good either, just the basic funny premise that Hillary wants to be president so badly. Did you watch it? Think it was OK? I'd give the skit a C-. And the Larry David part a D. Sorry SNL. Not funny enough. On a serious note: Guys, I've been thinking more about her email thing. I'm thinking if this was anybody else she'd be out of the race over this issue. I'm thinking she is skating on this one and it probably was serious enough to take down anybody else who had done it. There have probably been 20 things Trump has said, 10-12 that Carson has said and at least 5 that Fiorina has argued (especially the Planned Parenthood stuff) that in a normal year would have wiped out any traditional political candidate before they even got started with their campaign. Her own husband has survived numerous "bimbo eruptions" (Gennifer Flowers, Paula Jones, Monica Lewinsky) and Whitewater simply due to the fact that he was the most skilled politician and also considered likable by nearly everyone in the beginning ("he's like one of us, eating at McDonald's and then constantly struggling with his weight") and being a Rhodes Scholar with encyclopedic policy detail retention probably didn't hurt much, either.

1. Bryant 2. Rizzo 3. Russell 4. Schwarber 5. Soler 6. Ian Happ #9 pick in first round 7. Baez 8. Gleyber Torres We don't even have ONE player that would come close to cracking that list on the position player side. Tim Anderson would be a distant 8th or maybe even 9th...and I might very well be underrating Torres. And some Cubs' fans would/could make arguments for Billy McKinney, Almora and Eloy Jimenez.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 18, 2015 -> 11:09 PM) Yeah there are only so many big market teams. Those teams already have some of the insane contracts. I mean Greinke I read is getting 150 mill for 5 years. That's 30 mill a year. WHoever pays that can keep signing others? Are "normal" payrolls going to be 200 to 250 million and the big market teams 400 mill? You'd think owners would wise up some year. Uh, Minnesota almost made the playoffs. Yes Minnesota. They didn't need no massive contracts cept for Mauer. Ervin Santana $13.5 million Ricky Nolasco $12 million Torii Hunter $10.5 million Phil Hughes $9.2 million $45.2 million + $23 million for Joe Mauer, so you're not far off from our entire 2005 team, maybe $10 million in separation. That's a lot of money for a starting rotation these days, although still cheaper probably than our 2006-08 rotations with Buehrle, Garcia, Contreras, Garland and Javy V.

Except for the greatest rotation in a generation part (not with Shark/Danks/Noesi/Erik Johnson as part of it). You have to be deeper than just 3 starters to have the best in a generation, and Rodon needs to improve and repeat from last year. At any rate, you have the Braves of the 90's (Maddux/Glavine/Smoltz/Avery), the future Mets' rotation (deGrom/Harvey/Snydegaard/Matz/Colon/Wheeler)...heck, the Nationals were supposed to have the best rotation in baseball this season and that didn't exactly turn out, either (Scherzer/Strasburg/Zimmermann/Gio Gonzalez/Fister/Tanner Roark.) I'm sure older fans remember all the hype about Paul Wilson, Bill Pulsipher and Jason Isringhausen with the Mets 15 years ago. Only one of those guys even emerged to have a decent big league career, and it wasn't with NY.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Oct 18, 2015 -> 10:25 PM) Not when we sign Heyward, trade Q for Arenado, sign Buehlre and bring back Ozzie Guillen as bench coach. Milton? Whoops.

Well, I don't think anybody believes having Don Mattingly or Matt Williams would make any difference. It wouldn't sell nearly as many tickets as Puig, that's for sure.

Well, I don't think anybody believes having Don Mattingly or Matt Williams would make any difference. It wouldn't sell nearly as many tickets as Puig, that's for sure.

Well, if you're a Cubs' fan, pondering a potential sweep is still a lot better (see 2007/08) than the total heartbreak and shock of 2003, 1998, 1984 and 1969. If you get swept or only win one game or two even in a seven game series, it's a lot easier to deal with psychologically. It's those situations like 2003, the Michigan/MSU game or the marching band on the field that you never forget.

Just like Puig to the White Sox for Quintana, unless they're 100% convinced Ryu will be healthy next year...then they'd be better off picking a couple of 3-5 guys off the second and third tier FA list. Of course, it depends on what happens with Greinke. Nobody is going to be rushing out after Price and Cueto with their shakiness issues (or just general problems adjusting to the AL in Cueto's case). But who knows...everyone's waiting to see the dollar signs with Greinke, Heyward, Cespedes, Upton, Price and Cueto posted first.

Salud a mi Familia (Vin Diesel in Fast & the Furious)... Or the 1979 We Are Family/Sister Sledge Pirates (Willie Stargell/Dave Parker/Bill Madlock)....since it's the ten year anniversary of 1969 (Cubs/Mets), we can go with that one as well.

Just once I want Greg to say something positive about this country. C'mon!!!! I'm a liberal Democrat and I can at least think of 10 1) Best university system in the world, especially graduate programs in medicine/MBA/law, etc. 2) First Amendment baby! 3) Most choices/variety for food/restaurants and retail shopping 4) Most religious diversity 5) Best sports leagues in the world (other than maybe EPL) 6) Accessibility to loans for cars, houses, higher education 7) Best entertainment (movies, tv shows, music, etc.) in the world 8) Cleaner air/water than developing world 9) Relative safety based on the remoteness of North American continent from the rest of the world 10) Best national parks and highway system for seeing the country

Jesse Rogers@ESPNChiCubs @ESPNChiCubs what's confusing? The Mets are good...this is the final four...everybody is good. Cubs getting outplayed..it happens. Cubs' media guys getting a little bit exasperated with casual Cubs' fans expectations for them to just march through the NLCS and World Series.

Wood is many things. Occasionally effective and a useful bullpen piece. But filthy? Not so much.

Odds of Reed not getting lit up like he was closing against the Tigers in late-season 2012 (granted, he did get ONE huge save, but it was always precarious)...?