caulfield12

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 9, 2015 -> 05:11 PM) Stupidest, worst strategic decision in the last 50 years? 100% accurate, because 50 years ago was 1965 and the move to invade Vietnam had already been taken by that point and that's the only one I've got any time that century that rivals it. A further collapse of the middle east such that we're drawn back in to fight Isis and in a permanent occupation or unleashing of additional terrorism on the US Mainland now that Isis has the lone wolf citizen formula figured out could easily push that debacle past Vietnam, because they're really close - with Vietnam we just got out of the way and didn't really have anything major bite us back afterwards. Iran-Contra...Panama....Libya....Somalia/Rwanda under Clinton? Grenada? The CIA executing three foreign leaders wasn't so good, either. Hard to beat Vietnam, but we'll need another 20-30 years for more perspective on the Middle East.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Sep 9, 2015 -> 09:26 PM) Back in the day, the two best third basemen arguably were Robin and Matt Williams. Now Matt is the worst manager in majors, Robin certainly in lowest quartile. Plus the added presence of Buddy Bell. They tried KW at third too, I think. That would wipe out Konerko...not sure about Thome. Juan Uribe, player-manager!!!

Not many examples. Cain and Escobar came out of an NL system. Choo has done fairly well with the Rangers, although not worth his contract. Altuve in the AL has held his own. Russell Martin has been pretty good but not like with Pitt. Adam Eaton? It does seem 90% of the improvements come from players going AL to NL.

Michael Bloomberg has a shot against Trump...but that would probably require the economy going sideways or downward for another 4-6 months. The assumed rate hike will hurt a bit...but it's very unlikely to push the market down another 10-15% unless China continues to slide in the direction of 3-4% growth.

It's a heckuva lot more compelling than the White Sox season...that's for sure. Especially getting to watch young hitters with some pop in their bats. At this point, there's general indifference about the team winning games if the youngsters look good...whereas with the Cubs it's such a soap opera with the history of that franchise that you have to watch since the White Sox fan side of you keeps hoping for the disappointment to continue, somehow.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 5, 2015 -> 10:35 PM) Very sad take. This woman supports Hillary just because she is a woman. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stacey-newma...kusaolp00000592 I don't think I've ever read anything as sad/sick as that story. What an awful endorsement, based on sex alone. Isn't saying they want Trump to be president to see what happens when he has conflicts with Putin, North Korea, China or ISIS even scarier...? Because he can be as belligerent as he wants, but does he honestly believe he can commit the U.S. military to every conflict his mouth starts? He will just magically negotiate better using his Trump brand and real estate bag of tricks?

Saving money for daughters to become plastic surgeons....?

If Danks is our #3, good luck winning more than 72-74 games. I guess it doesn't matter how you slot Erik Johnson, Montas and/or Fulmer...but those rookie pitchers (and EJ's barely past the innings limit, so technically 2nd year) are going to have to pitch a lot better than Samardzija and Rodon this season. Not likely. It's hard to count on more than one of them having an ERA under 4, in all honesty. And it would seem insane to spend money on a FA pitcher (think Latos/Iwakuma level) to replace Samardzija when they need to pitch Johnson/Montas/Fulmer in order to prepare them all for THEORETICALLY trying to compete in 2017 (3rd year of the supposed window).

And yet you just know a game like this wasn't possible when the pressure was actually on and the White Sox were 2-3 games out of the Wild Card race. Now with every win, you're wondering if it decreases the odds of picking up the right hitter in the draft next June. It would be pretty ironic if the Twins crept back and took the WC after everyone basically wrote them off and said Molitor had no idea what he was doing....that would mean 3 of the 4 "totally inexperienced" managers would have gotten their teams into the playoffs, all but Ventura.

Well, this is one game where the Danks tradition of beating KC won out over the overall scenario. Of course, it came way too late to make any difference. Now, it's almost like anything Danks does well will be used as an argument for keeping him all of next season..."well, he's our only starter who can consistently beat the Royals, so we have to ignore his results against the rest of baseball and keep him around" At least Greg can praise him for beating the Royals, the anti/reverse Bruce Chen or Guthrie.

With how the Royals' offense has looked the last week or so, close game isn't coming to mind right now.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 4, 2015 -> 03:27 PM) Balta, with all due respect, I don't care about Trump because he's not a real option to win anything, much less the presidency. Yes I love the fact Trump is getting up there blasting everybody. But there's no way in hell he's going to be President. I doubt I'd even vote for him. Remember, Greg is FAIR. Frick, I voted for Obama over that boring imbecile, Romney. I actually voted for Obama. I doubt I'd pull the proverbial lever for Trump. But yes I do love his style and I laugh at his speeches and interviews. As far as Chris Matthews and the media ... SHAME! Hillary should be out over these lies. Out! Again, Trump? He's not winning anything. People just love what's coming out of his mouth right now. s***, his quotes about women alone along his obvious disdain for women guarantee him not having a chance of winning anything. I want a real threat, Hillary, removed from the race by the media. Trump? WHo cares. He's funny but not winnin that is for certain. It's not the job of the media to "take sides" and try to remove candidates. They cover frontrunners, and most candidates eliminate themselves because they don't have the ability to withstand the scrutiny or pressure, for whatever reason/s (see GOP primary season, 2007/2008). In fact, you could make the argument that the Clintons (just like in 1991-92) will use the media attacks and throw them in the "white wing conspiracy" bag of tricks, although it was definitely a lot easier back then to back Bill because he was at least likable, entertaining and obviously brilliant as a pure politican. Hilary is none of those things, which is why there's so much resistance. She's the female equivalent of Romney/Dole. The main things keeping her alive are the fact that the economy did quite well under the Clintons in the mid to late 90's, and the fact that the idea of an experienced co-president is intriguing to many after their disappointment with Obama's first term. But, just like Trump, the media "turning up the screws" on Hilary won't make her go away no matter how much you might wish it...and the Dems' betting money still isn't ready to move to Biden. The only name they'll readily accept is Elizabeth Warren right now, who apparently is still sitting this one out or waiting for Clinton to completely implode so she doesn't look as opportunistic.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Sep 4, 2015 -> 07:00 AM) If Obamacare the ACA had done anything to curb the rising costs of care, perhaps...but it didn't. Edit: I hate referring to it as Obamacare...it was a derogatory nickname given to it by butt hurt neocons. I was just joking, actually. Playing Devil's Advocate. But are salaries still escalating for brain/heart/plastic surgeons in general? At least higher than the rate of inflation? Or depends if you work for private/public hospital or clinic?

This is starting to become reminiscent of the game of chicken Ozzie and his crew played with Orlando Cabrera after the 2008 season...luckily Alexei was ready to take over and things worked out perfectly in that particular situation. Who did we draft in that spot, though?

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 4, 2015 -> 12:55 AM) good joke. they are not sure yet, women surgeons give good advice to kids nowadays about what to pursue. Wouldn't female surgeons give the advice that while there's going to be more and more Baby Boomers in need of medical care, the Obamacare government takeover will make it impossible to make as good a living as a surgeon compared to 10 or 20 years ago?

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 4, 2015 -> 12:52 AM) I can't take it when we get owned like this. I've turned down free tickets now in the beautiful middle level to 3 different Sox games cause I can't take the awful play vs. KC. I remember going to games there and feeling sorry/pity for the Royals. I was at that game when Miguel Asencio threw 16 consecutive balls to walk in a run. Now we have to feel sorry for the White Sox organization. To those of us who have lived and died with this franchise for the last 30 years, this is all very confusing — almost as confusing as rooting for a team that’s resting its regulars for the playoffs with five weeks left in the season. That the Royals are the anything of baseball is disorienting enough. For a generation, the Royals were props, redshirts existing only as plot devices. That they are now central characters in baseball’s drama is heady enough; that they are regarded as villains is icing on the cake. Your favorite team can inspire worse emotions than hatred. Pity, for instance. The irony is probably the only contact for most of the US this year with the White Sox (other than Chris Sale K's) has been Eazy-E incorrectly wearing an early 90's White Sox cap 3-4 years before it was even introduced. In that sense, I guess it's not a surprise. Whether it's Shoeless Joe Jackson's denial or C caps with "Piglet" tails that get confused with the Cleveland Indians, it has been a LONG LONG three years in the wilderness, and the likelihood of beating KC, Minnesota or Cleveland before 2018 is about the same as Kim Jong Eun being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for using an anti-aircraft missile battery to execute one of his top military advisors.

Medlen's been on a roll recently and is putting himself firmly in the conversation for the 4th spot in a playoff rotation. Right now, it's Cueto, Ventura or Volquez (based on recent starts and last post-season, Ventura), Duffy and Medlen battling for the final spot. Duffy would also be very helpful to give them two lefties out of the pen for the playoffs. Good dilemma to have for KC. A couple of months ago, those names would have been Chris Young, Guthrie, Vargas and Blanton at the back end.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 3, 2015 -> 10:10 PM) I do think Saladino at least has a chance, whereas I knew Conor had no chance. Saladino has a chance to be a great glove .250 hitter. He's one of our many candidates for 2B where .250 could be acceptable with a great glove. The only choice is to do an operation like in "Face Off" and merge Micah, Saladino and Sanchez into one super player. How did you know Gillaspie had no chance when he was our best hitter (other than Abreu and Eaton) for most of 2014? Because of his defense?

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/pro...?P=Brian-Dozier For what it's worth, Dozier had a 779 career minor league OPS. 8th round draft pick. Of course, what are the odds that a young White Sox hitter actually surprises to the upside offensively? You'd think it would have to happen sooner rather than later, with all the "bad luck" for the last decade. Then again, maybe our only luck all went to Carlos Quentin in 2008, Alexei and Jose Abreu.

http://grantland.com/features/2015-mlb-kan...ision-champion/ A Dayton With Destiny How many years will we have to wait for one appearance in the playoffs, let alone back to back?

If this "rebuild" is on track, I would love to see one that's not. The only team that seems like it has put itself in a worse situation than the White Sox would probably be the Padres. Other than that, we still don't have anyone you can count on for a grand total of six positions in the batting order going into next season.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 3, 2015 -> 12:50 AM) How come Ben Carson can't garner more support? He'd be our second African American president and he's not a politico like Obama. Why do we HAVE to have a woman? Why can't we go with Ben?? Hillary gives me great concern; Ben seems like an upstanding man with a clue. Why would he do any better than Jimmy Carter (which wasn't very good, to be honest)? How/why is he qualified?

By the way, let's hope the Twins don't put out a "Twins' Way" notebook on how they go about beating up Chris Sale pretty consistently. Never would have thought Sano (coming off the injury) would be the one who delivered on all the hype and more compared to Buxton...but it just goes to show how much love there is for five-tool players and how often we end up disappointed when they fail to meet their projections. It's early though, for every 50 Cameron Maybins or Kenny Williams, Jr., there's usually one Trout or Harper.

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Sep 2, 2015 -> 05:37 PM) Yea here we are again. Wanna see Rodon, Trayce, Avi & Saladino dominate but let Webb give up the lead for a loss. Top ten pick would really help those in the Heyward camp. I think it's more likely we see Mark Buehrle in a Sox uniform next season than Heyward...not when some team out there's going to give him $140-180 million. There's just no way we put all of our eggs in one basket when we have so many positions to cover. You have to spread out that money, or allocate it more efficiently in economic terms. Other than Adam Eaton and Abreu, it's hard to argue any members of the current starting line-up are likely to around after the 2017 season.

But...White Flag, the Sox attendance will nosedive, etc., etc. Would have been nice if they would have started rebuilding in 2007 instead of eight years later. If that had been done correctly, we'd be sitting in a sweet position right about now. According to this thread, we're now pushing back to 2018-19-20. Hope they get it right at some point. And/or decide to hold someone accountable for not getting it right finally.