caulfield12

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.

The M's weren't planning to keep Jackson after this season, despite the fact that they don't have a ready replacement for him in their system. Basically, the Cubs should be the subject of Moneyball 2, with the "niche" being the ability to bring in youngish veterans like Arrieta, Montero, Coghlan, Strop, Grimm, Edwards, Ramirez, etc. For all the hype around Bryant, Schwarber, Soler, Russell, Baez, Almora, etc., none of them have quite lived up to the expectations 100%. We've seen a very solid season out of Bryant, but the White Sox have had hitters like Quentin, Beckham and Viciedo never reach their full potential. There's no guarantee Schwarber will be a superstar, look at what Soler did last year and compare it to his Avi Garcia impression (albeit better defense) this year. They've had misfires with players like Olt, Edwin Jackson, Baez, Almora, Soler, Alcantara, Lake, etc. Just like with Mulder/Zito/Hudson, their starting pitching and bullpen have carried them more than the offense. They've also won more one run games (I think) than any team in baseball. For now, with Arrieta on a Jose Contreras/Bumgarner-like run, anything is possible, but for all that strength up front, there's questions about Lester holding runners, the back end of the rotation, how the bullpen will hold up under playoff pressure, etc. The Pirates are a playoff experienced-team, they'll undoubtedly be starting Cole at home, where they have a huge homefield advantage. It should be a good game, but all those Cubs' future "superstar" hitters like Bryant, Schwarber and Russell will look increasingly human in the playoffs. Remember how good the White Sox offense was in 2000? This Cubs' team isn't even close, and they were absolutely shut down by the Mariners that post-season.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 30, 2015 -> 09:45 PM) I just think he's brilliant and one of the greatest individuals to be President. His intelligence cannot be questioned. And he is full of faith in God, so I see it only natural as I would point to Jimmy as somebody to solidify my position that there is a God. Couldn't we make the opposite argument about Adolf Hitler or Werner Von Braun (rocketry/physics)? Heck, we can throw out the fictional Dr. Hannibal Lecter just for argument's sake. Some of the most brilliant men and women throughout history have perpetrated genocides or led cults that ended in mass suicides. Because Jimmy Carter was a decorated submarine officer, brilliant Navy cadet or respected Sunday school preacher doesn't make him the unquestioned authority on faith/belief/existence. Point being that intelligence has limits in understand/interpreting the universe, and it's just as easy to quote Hawking, Einstein or even a lesser light such as Richard Dawkins in making the opposite case. Greg, did you watch the "God is Not Dead" Christian film with Kevin Sorbo/Hercules playing the agnostic professor? Feels like a lot of the same arguments going back and forth.

QUOTE (Lip Man 1 @ Aug 30, 2015 -> 11:54 PM) I'd be very surprised if you even got that. I suspect now more than ever everyone returns next year, KW, Bell, Robin and his cadre of clown coaches. It's really hard to find any silver lining for the franchise in all this and it's worse with the Cubs seemingly figured it out enough to look like they could be a factor for years to come while the Sox keep "hoping" they can figure something out. Mark I wish there was some type of computer/quant simulation which could demonstrate the impact of a manager/coaching staff...that it could "run" 1000 seasons with Ventura in charge of the Cubs, and Maddon in charge of the White Sox. Some will swear until they're blue in the face it wouldn't make any difference at all. An equal number who have put up with the tail end of the Ozzie show and then the abysmal baserunning/fundamentals/execution/defense of the 2013-2015 White Sox teams would swear on their graves that a better manager could maximize this team's talent and at least have them close to .500 if not better. Obviously SOMETHING happened the first 5 months or 2012, just subtracting Guillen from the equation...yet Ventura's inexperience showed up down the stretch. Yet those who still advocate for keeping Robin around will use the argument of a number of teams changing managers mid-season and it not making much of a positive impact (or is it simply the fact that most of the teams with managers getting fired weren't very good in the first place?). It does seem that the best time to implement a new system/strategy from a managerial/coaching standpoint is in the offseason.

QUOTE (AustinIllini @ Aug 30, 2015 -> 09:24 PM) I'm 30. I watched the World Series team just like you did. The organization celebrated by continually driving into the ground. Yeah, but things can turn quickly. Everyone thought 2007 was rock bottom as well...with the only thing to get excited about Josh Fields that second half (unless you were a Jerry Owens fan).

QUOTE (AustinIllini @ Aug 30, 2015 -> 09:24 PM) I'm 30. I watched the World Series team just like you did. The organization celebrated by continually driving into the ground. They did win 90 games the season following the World Series, and that's enough to get into the post-season more often than not these days...so you had the anomalies of the Twins/Tigers both being better in one season (same as the NL Central this year). They got to the playoffs in 2008, and made strong/competitive runs in 2010 and 2012, as well as adding Peavy/Rios/Beckham/Quentin/Floyd/Danks/Alexei Ramirez/Viciedo. Unfortunately, it didn't work out...but it's not like they immediately collapsed. If anything, they held onto the veteran core pieces for too long instead of starting the rebuilding in 2007-09 instead of pushing it all the way back to 2012/2013, essentially. It was more faded into obscurity...rather than being driven into the ground. Bringing in Thome, Mackowiak and Javy V. seemed like solid moves at the time. Of course, their FA moves this off-season were applauded by many as well, and we all know how that worked out.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 30, 2015 -> 09:12 PM) Yep, the great Joe Maddon left Lester in to die last night, but he'll get credit for keeping them loose Bring back the blow up dolls, Nick Swisher and Jay Mariotti to keep the focus off the team.

QUOTE (AustinIllini @ Aug 30, 2015 -> 08:59 PM) My comment was true, yours was uninformed. The Royals or Blue Jays would wipe out the Cubs anyway...

QUOTE (AustinIllini @ Aug 30, 2015 -> 08:55 PM) You would be wrong. This season is gravy. You better believe the Flubs are the favorite for David Price. Epstein isn't shortsighted. No high end Cub prospect is worth a rental. And exactly how many of those huge $125-150+ million contracts for 5-6+ years for pitchers at age 29/30/31 or over have worked out well for their teams? A couple? If the Cubs win the World Series and Lester and Price fall off a cliff in a couple of years, it won't matter...but it's not like Price guarantees anything any more than the Dodgers spending $300 million has even guaranteed them a place in the playoffs.

What is the hype level in Chicago right now compared to the Kerry Wood strikeout game?

Schwarber is pretty reminiscent of Erik Hinske...

With all the resources the Dodgers have "wasted" this season, it's pretty difficult to say this season has been successful for Friedman so far. Of course, everything could change in the post-season, Kershaw vs. the Cardinals, etc. Obviously, they've also got a 3 1/2 game lead over the Giants at the moment, but it's a bit tenuous. Just goes to show how much they miss "elite" Puig, Ramirez and Kemp...for awhile, Pederson, Grandal and Turner were replacing that production, along with Adrian Gonzalez busting out early. That 2013 team seemed set to romp through the playoffs, this version is more like the 2008 White Sox albeit with two elite starters.

I think it's about time for Falling Down 2: The Sequel

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 29, 2015 -> 09:38 PM) Sorry about the loss of your twins. Truly sorry. I don't know why people would tell you that, but I would just say I'm sorry and ask if you needed anything. You said: "I have more important things to think about and deal with in my short time on this earth and id rather not waste it believing there's some mystical being that I need to follow his rules or I go to a bad place when I die." That's cool. That's your prerogative. In my case, I also have "more important" things to do than go to church on Sunday as I'm pretty much tied to my job as most workers are nowadays. But in my case the best hour I spend all week is the one I get to spend in church every Sunday; sometimes I go during the week as well, but not that often. I find it inspiring to see a packed church and enjoy inspirational music and readings with all these people praising God. I think it's great. I don't think I'm "wasting" precious time "believing there's some mystical being." I know where you are coming from though. My family members are the same way. They wouldn't be caught dead wasting an hour of their weeks at Mass. They will go on Xmas Eve though which is always nice. I don't push it on them but I do enjoy my time spent in church and don't think I'm wasting my hour. The same reason people say any disaster or "unfair/unjust loss of life" is God's plan. However, saying sorry or asking what you can do...those aren't much consolation, either, when you've lost a parent or child. Maybe you're right, in a society without God or religion, we wouldn't even be civil enough to mouth those words that feel necessary but often come out hollow, like when someone talks about being abused as a child by a priest and you can't say much of anything...but try to muster up some sympathy for them, which obviously won't do any good but is the human reaction. It seems many of the posters here either grew up in the Catholic Church, went to private/Catholic schools...that's as interesting as your survey results, which are pretty meaningless statistically because they're not measuring or sampling 1000's of women living in Alabama or Kansas. Maybe if you took away all the abuse scandals, the millions that various dioceases have paid to buy their way out of those situations (of course, with church donations going to lawyers rather than the traditional targets of Catholic Social/Relief Services)...all those examples in every church where leaders have seemingly gotten "rich" or acquired upscale condos, luxury cars and golden parachutes for retirement. It's also for me about the fact that not allowing birth control in countries like India (see Mother Teresa's comments on this issue) or sub-Saharan Africa seems to be terribly short-sighted...often leading to even more misery/cruelty for many of these children. (I know someone will go on a riff about all the geniuses/prodigies that the world would have been forever denied due to abortion...but what all the all those same geniuses who never have a chance to emerge because of growing up with parents who don't have the resources to provide them a good education?)

QUOTE (TRU @ Aug 29, 2015 -> 09:43 PM) And like I said, more power to you.. but soon the most important thing that will happen on Sundays for me is having the right fantasy football lineup set and watching the Dolphins hoping they finally get their s*** together.. Life is short, believe what you want to believe and do what you want to do, as long as youre happy I couldn't give two f***s about what you believe in They were my favorite sports team growing up in the 70's/80's/early 90's....and then, poof. When you go from Marino/Duper/Clayton (but no running backs/defense) to Jimmy Johnson to irrelevance (ala the White Sox for most of their history), it's pretty hard to stay motivated following them from afar, especially when living in KC for a decade and then another decade living abroad.

Other than the starting pitching, there aren't many reasons for hope. We can't even get the opportunity to see Thompson play because it will "block" Cabrera/LaRoche/Avi. Same thing with Samardzija, who knowing the White Sox we'll probably get stuck paying him $16+ million and receiving a Danksish ERA to boot. Saladino and Sanchez still feel like complementary players who would undoubtedly be perfect fits coming off the bench for the Cardinals. Eaton's had a pretty inconsistent year overall (baserunning and defense have both gone downhill) and he's clearly our 2nd best position player/bat after Jose Abreu. That tells you all you need to know. Unless Thompson, Anderson and Hawkins break the trend of being athletes that can actually play the game, we'll be fortunate to be competing in 2017. Not to mention the most depressing fact of all...we need to have good teams in 2017-19 in order to get the most beneficial new broadcast rights package. If we play like we've been playing for another three seasons, the White Sox might simply cease to exist except in the hearts and minds of a few die hards.

Just read an article on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer website and one of the first ideas (along with not firing Edgar as hitting coach) was dumping Sucre because he's so terrible. They also suggested going for Jordan Zimmerman (over attempting to retain Iwakuma) and dumping Austin Jackson to anyone who will take him in August.

Religion has simply been an attempt to control the middle class and poor throughout history and keep them relatively passive/obedient. Religion is the opiate of the masses, etc. If you could prove that there was no God, it wouldn't turn into The Purge overnight but there would be a lot less patience exhibited towards various governments/leaders. On the other hand, as some have mentioned, it's a way to deal with grief and the fear of the unknown, the abyss of endless sleep. Everyone would LIKE to believe they'll be reunited with their parents/family and loved ones in "heaven," but it's not the likely ending. The Greg Kinnear movie where his son supposedly meets God, and the reaction of all the people (even in the church) is skeptical...it's the nature of everyone these days not to believe in anything that you can't empirically back up with proof or evidence.

At least in 2011 Dunn was historically so inept that in and of itself was compelling...enough for the NY Times, at least. This season lacks even that. Another irony is that Trayce Thompson has actually been dangerous, but we have no place to play him because of Avi/LaRoche being forced upon us for another season. Lowe, Iwakuma and Span FA's for 2016, the REBUILD CONTINUES...coming to a deserted stadium near you.

Please let Samardzija accept the QO and then put up a 5.89 ERA next year so some changes might actually take place in this organization. Then again, Buddy Bell would get promoted to GM or manager, unfortunately.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/troubling-tr...-214700529.html Here's an interesting theory on the QE/monetary policy side of this whole mess...will use it with my students.

QUOTE (Cknolls @ Aug 24, 2015 -> 05:11 PM) Congrats to you! Very wise move... You saved yourself a percent or two and even more because it will take that much larger of a move to the upside to make up for all the losses incurred today'. Kudos! 17 of the last 48 times there was a 5% correction, it continued downwards to 10% or greater...so the odds are roughly 35-40% IF you can time it right. On the other hand, it bounced back positively even more frequently. Now it just depends on what you sold exactly, transaction/brokerage fees...cost to get back into the market again, if you looked at it every occasion you attempted to "time" the market and how much money you actually were able to save versus an approach of dollar cost averaging (or even doubling your investments in the midst of a correction of 5-10% or more waiting for a bounce back long-term). It's not easy to do. Bill Miller of Legg Mason famously beat the S&P Index for 13 consecutive years (Value Trust/LMVTX) and became one of the most reputable managers in the game...yet the combination of 2001-2002 and 2008-2009 did such a number on him that he was relieved of his position and in fact the name of his fund became so poisonous it had to be changed to Clear Bridge Value Trust. In a different way, the same thing has happened to Bill Gross of Pimco Total Bond Index...hubris in thinking you can time the market consistently, well, we all know what happened to Icarus.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Aug 24, 2015 -> 03:24 PM) Who is saying the US economy is growing 3.5 - 4% per year. I've never seen any sort of growth figures that high. That would be insanely strong growth for a country our size. Maybe you and I are thinking of different metrics from a growth perspective? Aren't the quarterly updated GDP numbers coming out this week (Thursday)? For some reason, I was under the impression that the rate would be relatively robust, although most yearly numbers are still in the 2.0-2.5% range, more or less.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Aug 22, 2015 -> 06:34 PM) How many times did the Sox potentially lose a playoff berth due to the inability to beat last place teams? Those 116 loss Tigers of last decade come to mind. The Royals more in 2006, 2010 and 2012. Before that, the Tigers and Twins on the topside.

So to summarize, companies with a lot of exposure to China like Deere, Apple, European luxury goods exporters, anything to do with construction/real estate, raw materials/metals, better to steer away from...but if the US economy is actually growing at 3.5-4% then the bottom of the collapse/overreaction in the US has to be near. You started to see it with the pushback from bottom feeders today. Of course, panic and anxiety is never logical, whether its Dutch tulips, 1929, 1987, 1998, 2001-02, 2007-2009, etc. As FDR famously said, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself."