caulfield12

Phillies have tied the Blue Jays 2-2, still batting in the top of the 5th. And the Phillies take the lead now, 3-2. Will there be a Tulo appearance later in the game? Did he make it to Toronto yet? Whoever's starting for the Cubs, he just gave up 4 in the first inning.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 28, 2015 -> 06:15 PM) It is why you, I and others said you had to stay patient with him. Their was a history of success their and the eye test didn't see any noticeable fall-out in terms of his skills. He is regressing back to the mean (in this case, a very good thing). I presume we'd see the same with LaRoche (with slight decline due to normal aging), however, that might be impacted by his health as I think he's hurting. http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/batting/_/pos.../OPS/order/true Other than Hanley Ramirez (due to defense), Byrd and Cuddyer, he's still near the bottom...but obviously he's been a lot better recently. To be effective for the White Sox, he needs to put up a 750-775ish OPS. He's also one of the four guys still slugging under 400. Let's just say we're elated he's not a complete disaster and we can be fairly confident in him being better in 2016 and certainly don't need to worry about replacing that position as well...providing us at least three certainties in the line-up next year (along with Abreu and Eaton).

Bonifacio injured. Knee or groin injury...he's definitely coming out.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jul 28, 2015 -> 06:13 PM) Está quemando! I'm just going with the literal, lazy ESPN SportsCenter translation.

You know things are going well when Avi Garcia walks.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Jul 28, 2015 -> 06:09 PM) Meh, so Pablo tagged one. No biggie. Samardzija is still capable of shutting them down for the next 4 or 5 innings. Nine consecutive starts with 7+ IP.

Cabrera 14 for his last 24.... .583 En fuego.

At least Balta will be happy his K rate's up this inning.

Uh-oh.... Sandoval picks tonight to show up. Looking like a carbon copy almost of last night's game. Amazingly enough, the first homer over the Green Monster for Sandoval since he signed.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Jul 28, 2015 -> 05:59 PM) Saladino really isn't as fast as I thought he was Minor league stolen base numbers almost never translate to "MLB speed." He's pretty quick, but he's not a burner.

Balt now up 5-2, TB leading the Tigers 1-0 in the battle for 3rd place.

DeAza certainly never looked this determined to get on base when he played for the White Sox his last two seasons with us.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/team/_/stat/b...15/seasontype/2 No longer last in runs scored per game, and we've passed Tampa Bay so no longer last in the AL. 27th, with a full eight innings to add tonight. Miami and Seattle within hailing distance. Cubs at 98 games, 378 runs...Sox at 99 games, 351 runs and the chance to add even more tonight.

Toronto leading the Phillies early, 2-0 going into the 3rd. Baltimore leading the Braves, 3-2, in just the top of the 2nd.

Wow.... Bonifacio doubling there, what the heck? Gordon must be aggravated he's behind Boni in the line-up, the ultimate insult.

Fans chanting for Pedro Martinez to come into the game, lol. Papa John's better fire up those ovens...or is that just for home victories? Miley hurting? Blister or hand problem? He threw a couple in the mid 90's, highest velocity of the season, not that it helped a lot.

Finnegan hurts the most because Morales is their only lefty reliever right now, and he's been serviceable but not great. Manaea, Reed, Lamb, etc., none of them were ahead of Kyle Zimmer in the eyes of the front office, or their recently drafted Indiana kid in Ashe Russell. They lost a lot of their minor league pitching depth, but none of those guys were being counted on for 2016 other than Finnegan in the bullpen and the possibility of those other arms fighting for spots at the back end of the rotation. That will simply cost them money, but they were going to have to spend money on a free agent or make a trade anyway...and slot a guy after Volquez, Ventura, Duffy at the back end.

QUOTE (staxx @ Jul 28, 2015 -> 03:56 PM) MIN > Sox > CLEV > KC > DET in terms of 5-7 year outlook IMO Min has an incredible farm system. We have an extremely strong pitching rotation with some young core hitters. KC is blowing up their farm to win this year/next year, and will likely lose many pieces from their bullpen and Alex Gordon. They also have little in terms of long term pitching value. DET is aging extremely fast, saddled with huge contracts, and little farm talent. Who are the young core hitters? Eaton and Abreu, basically. Are you already counting Sanchez and Saladino? As far as the Royals go, they'll have Volquez, Duffy, Ventura, Kyle Zimmer, Medlen....a free agent signing, and probably one of Guthrie/Blanton/Chris Young/Hochevar as the long man but they're undoubtedly going to get another starter before next season. I'm not sure where this idea of losing many pieces of the bullpen is coming from, they'll still have their core set-up guys in Escobar and Davis. Davis will make $8 million in 2016, and $10 million in 2017 (those are club options with with a $2.5 million buyout in 2017). They have Herrera for next season at $2.55 million. Holland has been very shaky for the last two months and might be replaced. They are stuck with Jason Vargas' deal for 2016, but if he misses the full season, they'll get 35-40% back in insurance payments. There's a $10 million mutual option on Medlen with a $1 million buyout. Fwiw, their recent first rounder (Ashe Russell) was somewhere in the 90's, and then there's Mondesi, so still two Top 100 guys, barely.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jul 28, 2015 -> 01:24 PM) I like Hector. I like Eaton. Eaton was better last year, Hector this year. Eaton makes more sense for a team carrying Sale, Quintana and Rodon. It worked out for everyone that wasn't the D-Backs. Unless you have AJ Pollock ready to play in Arizona, who they considered the better player.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 28, 2015 -> 01:32 PM) What matters is your scouting report said Finnegan and Duffy were the future. One of them is gone. One of them has been injured and struggled. And their starters have been pretty bad anyways. Burning out the bullpen. Simple regression. Having to pay players. The future is not so bright in KC. The cow town won't attract free agents unless they overpay. LOL, like they did with Volquez, Rios, Morales, Blanton, Chris Young and Medlen? (It seems in retrospect like the White Sox were the ones who overpaid their free agents.) I doubt you've even been to Kansas City, lol. It's almost like you have a personal animus towards the city. I could understand if it was Detroit or Omaha or Des Moines or some random midwestern city, but what happened to you there? Weren't you predicting last year that this was the last anyone would ever hear from the Royals, that they were one-hit wonders and the product of luck (mentioning the Wild Card comeback about 1000 times)?

QUOTE (ChiSox59 @ Jul 28, 2015 -> 01:30 PM) Shields helped the Royals turn the corner and Davis is a nearly unhittable bullpen piece, but I bet Dayton still regrets that trade a bit. A top rotation pitcher and a middle/back end type, plus a legit corner OF all at the league minimum. They probably wouldn't have had to made the trades they've made this past 3 days if it wasn't for that trade. Except there's no way in hell they would have gotten to the post-season or World Series with W.Myers and Odorizzi producing what they did in 2014. The acquisition of Shields changed the mindset of the entire pitching staff. Dayton Moore when he's 80 will never admit to anything but relief that it worked out, because his job was 100% on the line if they didn't reach the playoffs last year, not unlike AA in Toronto this season with the desperation Tulo move that's ten times worse IMO in terms of the long-term consequences for the Blue Jays.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 28, 2015 -> 01:27 PM) How's Medlin doing Royals boy? Hochevar isn't doing squat. That bullpen has been burning at both ends and it will catch up. And just wait until it is time to pay those guys. Better win now Royals. It's going to be a very short ride. On the bright side, when they get back to their losing ways, you will have the greatest beat writers in baseball to feed you BS you can eat up. The Royals have two more seasons after this, just like the Tigers had their four. The Twins are shaping up to be the team to beat in future years, but KC will be the favorites heading into next season. They're a couple of pitchers (starter/reliever) away from being really dangerous. The Indians still have the best overall (future) rotation, although the White Sox will challenge that if Fulmer/Montas emerge as well.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 28, 2015 -> 01:07 PM) Oh, the TV ratings. They gave up 5 arms in 2 KW moves, Finnegan, a guy you said was one of the greatest prospects in the game, and a top 60 prospect for rentals. History has shown deadline acquistions rarely determine the WS outcome, so trading 5 prospects and burning out your bullpen isn't a recipe for sustained success. If the Royals can't re-sign Gordon, they won't be able to get Cueto or Zobrist. This is their shot. If they blow it, it will be back to the drawing board. Apparently the Reds agree. Who has come up the same season he was drafted, (pitched in the College World Series in the case of Finnegan) and then the MLB World Series? Cincy was convinced he had a future as a starter, that's all that matters, in the end. And they liked Reed a lot. With Lamb, anyone who's had TJ surgery once is a risk, but he was a huge prospect at one time, like Drabeck.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 28, 2015 -> 01:07 PM) Oh, the TV ratings. They gave up 5 arms in 2 KW moves, Finnegan, a guy you said was one of the greatest prospects in the game, and a top 60 prospect for rentals. History has shown deadline acquistions rarely determine the WS outcome, so trading 5 prospects and burning out your bullpen isn't a recipe for sustained success. If the Royals can't re-sign Gordon, they won't be able to get Cueto or Zobrist. This is their shot. If they blow it, it will be back to the drawing board. They don't want Zobrist for next year, they need him for these 2 1/2 months. Simple. Back to the drawing board? If you're living under a rock, they've added guys like Madson, Hochevar (back from injury) and Medlen to take some of the pressure off that bullpen. They're unlikely to sign Cueto or Price, but then I never thought Glass would okay spending $55 million on Gil Meche a decade ago or bringing in Jose Guillen, either. You can guarantee they will bring in SOMEONE for their starting rotation before next season. The irony is that we're talking about all these moves not paying off and "blowing up" if they don't win the World Series. This is the Royals, remember? Two or three seasons ago they were a laughingstock..."we keep hearing about all these young prospects, blah blah...they screwed up the franchise by trading Wil Myers, etc." I'm sure if I went back to the thread on the day Myers/Odorizzi/Montgomery were traded for Davis and Shields, it will be filled with those critical of the move and saying the Royals were nuts. And Odorizzi and Montgomery (with Seattle) was a big price to pay, but Myers has never come close to being the cornerstone player he was projected to be.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 28, 2015 -> 12:04 PM) I thought you were a big advanced stats guy? Santiago's FIP,xFIP, and SIERRA don't peg him as much of a stud. Did he make the All-Star team or not? Was he the lone (token) representative from the Angels? I think not.