caulfield12

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jul 31, 2015 -> 03:04 PM) I'd have rather sold shark than buy. But I think standing pat may have been right move depending on his market. For me: 15% of playoff birth + big draft pool money/exclusive window to talk shark extension>>>>>>>> a package that the A's got for Kazmir for example. You sign Samardzija and what money do you realistically have left over for improving 3B, RF, C? They have to trade either Quintana or prospects if they want to realistically compete in 2016. Otherwise, this "competitive window" just got pushed back one more year.

QUOTE (spiderman @ Jul 31, 2015 -> 03:01 PM) My only concern is that the White Sox management may not know what they currently have. If there's any truth to that, then I'm concerned. They have played 100 games and don't have a winning record, but are just a few games behind for a wildcard spot, albeit being a few teams. Does the last 8 games cause the White Sox to re-think what they saw for the first 90? Do they still think the team underachieved for 90 games and are now playing up to what they thought? Could they have gotten more value on Samardzijia had they pulled a trigger on a move? This may not even be fair to the Sox, but they normally like to 'go for it' and aren't a team that typically rebuilds so not doing something, at least to me, signals they don't want to risk being wrong about thinking this team can win, but also not mortgaging what few prospects they do have. Therein lies the problem....judging that ability to compete based on beating two last place teams on the road (and the Red Sox were in a horrendous slump, something like 2-12 or whatever) isn't much of a basis for suddenly believing they'd changed or transformed at the drop of a hat. Saladino's suddenly a core, franchise piece...at 3B? The odds just aren't in favor of that going by his entire career MILB history.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 31, 2015 -> 02:53 PM) I'd be thrilled as a Cubs fan. Be a realist. They ain't going anywhere yet. They are in a better spot right now then I expected them to be in and doing anything short sighted (with the cash they'll have in the off-season) would have been ridiculous. Cueto or Greinke to the Tigers, Price or Greinke to the Cubs... Nightmare ensues. After much bemusement and gnashing of teeth about horrible long-term contracts for pitchers in their 30's (add Lester/Verlander to the list), the next couple of seasons won't be much fun for Sox fans unless they can dramatically improve that starting line-up.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 31, 2015 -> 02:51 PM) @ChiTribKane Chris Sale escaped media group asking for trade deadline comment but did say, "Why wouldn't we want to keep the team the same?" Seems we heard the exact same comments from Thome, Dye and Konerko in 2006...

QUOTE (Flash Tizzle @ Jul 31, 2015 -> 02:30 PM) I'm actually more pissed off they were unwilling to trade Shark than acquiring anything. This team is NOT going to the playoffs, but we're also not going next year unless drastic improvements are made across the roster. I have a feeling we'll remember this season more for the useless 7-1 run at the trade deadline and it's impact on our future more than anything else. The question will always be "what if they would have had the advantage of knowing what would happen in the next six series after the Trade Deadline?" and they'll end up 5-10 games under .500 (which will be a slight improvement over 2014, which was a slight improvement over 2013)... Between our upcoming schedule and all the additions made by the Blue Jays, Astros, Rangers, Tigers, Royals, etc., our position both this season and in the future hasn't been improved. Now maybe the Twins, Orioles and Rays didn't do much of anything, but they're all taking different courses that at least follow logic.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 31, 2015 -> 02:44 PM) I agree. If they traded Shark weeks ago, they could have gotten 3 top notch prospects probably. But let's say Sox traded him yesterday or today for a couple prospects. That basically would have been a white flag trade. Maybe it would have been great for the team's future, but if Erik Johnson sucked, the Sox would basically be white flagging the work they did last offseason in putting together what they think is a playoff team. Even though I love Danks, if I were the Sox, I'd bring up E. Johnson and insert him into the rotation for Danks right now. I'd also bring up Davidson and take the risk and insert him at third. What if he's the power bat we need? If Johnson is great that'll be the added boost the team needs. I have no idea what you then do with Danks. Johnson, sure....he's a big part of the future, at least at the moment. Davidson, they have to ride Saladino for as long as they can. No way they make that move. Have to rely on pitching/defense and clutch hitting to survive.

QUOTE (Buehrlesque @ Jul 31, 2015 -> 02:30 PM) That makes sense because, by keeping him, they essentially lowered the offers he'll get from other teams in FA (due to the comp pick). Thus they lowered the price it would take for them to re-sign him. He's not a Stephen Drew or Kendrys Morales in the 2013 market. He'll get his offers, just like Robertson and Melky got theirs...

QUOTE (ChiSox59 @ Jul 31, 2015 -> 02:36 PM) Upton will go on waivers, Braun will go on waivers, Victor Martinez will go waivers, Stephen Vogt will go on waivers, hell even Longoria will go on waivers. I could go on for a while. Why would we want to add Braun, Longoria's or Martinez's contract? Upton will certainly be blocked...or the acquiring team won't be able to work out a deal. Why are the A's desperate to let go of Vogt with his favorable contract?

QUOTE (ChiSox59 @ Jul 31, 2015 -> 02:33 PM) Dude, just become a Royals fan! You and Greg can be besties! The point is you don't have to break the bank spending in Free Agency to still remain competitive. The Royals aren't in a situation where they can afford to pay guys like Shields and Alex Gordon $100 million contracts, not in that market. I will continue to compare and contrast their moves with KW/Hahn until the White Sox start making the right ones.

QUOTE (Buehrlesque @ Jul 31, 2015 -> 02:32 PM) Well, CarGo will most likely pass through waivers. Of course, they couldn't use Avi Garcia in the trade now though, because he won't pass. What other waiver wire bats are you suggesting? Mike Napoli would be one, but we'll probably end up with Allen Craig, Chris Shelton or Tuffy Rhodes.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 31, 2015 -> 02:19 PM) Why would a non playoff team block him? And a team in contention might be willing to trade something for him. If not, there's a draft pick which everyone seems to hate, although they also hate signing established MLB players and giving up lower picks than the one the Sox will receive. You don't know the offers, so why don't you just stop this act trying to get the complainers going for just one day? Here's another offer, dude. I think Shark goes nowhere and is blocked. You think he can still be traded. For real this time, you can never mention Don Cooper or Greg Walker again (when you invariably lose the bet)....since you already lost the Gordon Beckham bet last year and I didn't really call you out on it. Why even have Soxtalk if the whole premise is to praise the front office for not having a clue how to leverage their one asset to get a useful piece or pieces for next season? Maybe you should start your own thread (and you won't see me in any of these pages advocating dealing prospects for Upton/Cespedes either) and praise KW and Hahn for their brilliance? That thread will be a freaking ghost town and you'll embarrass yourself, but go ahead.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 31, 2015 -> 02:21 PM) You can also make trades, have young players emerge and improve, sign good players who don't cost >$100M and a draft pick, etc. That's exactly what the Royals did, but can KW/Hahn pull it off? If the White Sox had brought in Morales, Chris Young (placeholder) and Volquez they'd be sitting in a much better position today, as they'd have Volquez as part of the rotation for next year instead of a compensation pick for Shark and they'd have had a lot more depth to pull off a trade at the deadline (the four guys who went to the A's). Of course, you can argue nobody could have foreseen what Morales or Young were going to do for them. We probably would have been better off with Rios over Garcia, but that's really not an argument worth having atm. Along with those guys, dumpster diving for the likes of Blanton to cover your rotation, bringing back Hochevar and signing Medlen to a spec contract based on his TJ history that they don't have to pick up next year ($10 million mutual option).

The only fans who should be more disappointed are probably Twins and Padres fans... Even the Pads can pass Shields through waivers and probably find a taker because of that contract.

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Jul 31, 2015 -> 02:15 PM) Not too disappointed. I am glad need didn't trade Anderson/Danish/Adams for Cespedes. What are the chances of us trading Shark by 8/31 deadline if we're out of it? Zero. He will be blocked and a trade won't be worked out to anyone's satisfaction. The only way he could get through is with an onerous contract.

This is exactly where we said we didn't want to be. Around .500, but not 100% in the race. Not in a position for a franchise-changing draft pick in 2016. Fans more and more apathetic after just starting to buy in again in the last 2-3 weeks. Still missing a RF, 3B, C and LaRoche has been hot garbage. Not to mention that we're counting on Erik Johnson and John Danks going into 2016. Yay, second year of the competitive window, and we'll lose how many season ticket holders again? Between Sale, Billy Pierce passing away, teams like the Tigers, Blue Jays, Dodgers, Royals and Astros just getting richer and richer...the excitement that we had over the last month, it's all going to disappear in the blink of an eye. Yay! A compensation pick that might have the impact of a Keenyn Walker/Jared Mitchell in about 2019 or 2020. We do have one of the most expensive closers in the league, though, so there's that.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 31, 2015 -> 02:06 PM) Michael Fulmer to the Tigers...he's a solid acquisition What would be really hilarious is if Dombrowski said..."We now feel 100% more confident than a week ago about our ability to beat the White Sox in 2016." To top it off, we're going to go out and spend a billion dollars on Greinke or Cueto.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 31, 2015 -> 02:05 PM) Just got Tommy Hunter also He used to have a pretty electric arm with the Braves/Orioles once upon a time...better as a reliever than starter.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jul 31, 2015 -> 02:01 PM) lol what? The Tigers got two two prospects I've never heard of from the Mets. How did we lack the chips? Once again, great job with that farm system guys. Always second best for a decade, seemingly started when we didn't have the pieces for Miguel Cabrera. Without any quality depth and lacking the secondary pieces to get things done (see Astros, Blue Jays, Dodgers)...well, we shouldn't be surprised. We can't (seemingly) trade Fulmer/Montas/M.Johnson/Anderson/E.Johnson and nobody wants whatever's left behind those guys.

Between Sale last night, Billy Pierce passing away, all the moves other teams made to improve themselves, Detroit getting a lot stronger for next season compared to a week ago...all of the excitement about the last two months of the season has kind of gone out of the balloon.

Cue random groundscrew guys in MAJOR LEAGUE... "Yeah, but they still suck." Or was that a Rob Schneider line in The Waterboy?

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 31, 2015 -> 01:49 PM) Great initial post to this thread. I do agree they probably should have made a trade. But I also agree I'd hate to see any of the Sox "name" prospects gone for a rental. It's kind of buzzkill to not make any changes at all when Baltimore and Toronto and Texas added guys. I will say this ... it's up to the team right now to remove that buzzkill. The team just won 7 of 8 on the road. If it could win the Yankee series at home and continue to hit a bit, there still could be some excitement in the Cell. Saladino is a recent addition and the new Sanchez is almost like an entirely new player. Ditto Melky. Even Rodon appears a new guy the last 3 starts. We are the Rays, lol...franchise stuck in neutral. Unless something changes in the next hour of those announcements that always leak rapidfire in the hour after the actual deadline and they're just messing with us to build the suspense.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 31, 2015 -> 01:49 PM) Bruce Levine ‏@MLBBruceLevine now7 seconds ago Source says Cespedes has been dealt to the Mets . They've just managed to lose two in a row and made one of their players cry, so hopefully they can stop the Cubs at least. Does that mean the Tigers have added Norris and Wheeler to their rotation? Ouch...

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jul 31, 2015 -> 01:48 PM) Why the hell would we want Rajai Davis? On the theory nearly anything is better than Avi I guess...

Why is the headline in ALL-CAPS and misspelled to boot?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 31, 2015 -> 01:44 PM) Bob Nightengale ‏@BNightengale 35s36 seconds ago The #Whitesox were aggressive, but fell short, and now out of #Tigers Cespedes sweepstakes If they don't acquire anything until August waiver deals and/or we still have Samardzija, it will be beyond disappointing.